Learning to Fly
by Tonko
Summary: Naruto-Pern Fusion AU. Naruto/Neji. Naruto goads Neji to come to the Weyr.
1. Prologue

Author's Notes:

Hopefully the world of Pern, if it's unfamiliar to you, will be explained clearly enough as chapters progress. But for anyone interested, Wikipedia's Pern page has a brief overview, with another page on the dragons in particular. (Sorry, can't link right in here)  
Additionally:  
-Please note that Hyuuga Hiashi is _not_ himself in this fic, his character is being totally bastardized for my nefarious AU purposes. I'm sorry about that.  
-For those who've read the Pern books, you'll notice I've chosen to ignore the elided names that dragonriders adopt in McCaffrey's books in favour of keeping the Naruto characters' names familiar.

**PROLOGUE**

"What are you doing?" Naruto asked groggily. He blinked in the dim light of the half-covered glowbasket.

"Leaving," Sasuke answered, matter of fact, a warning snap to his voice. Naruto barely noticed it over his own shock.

"What?" he pushed himself to a sitting position. Sasuke was stuffing clothing into a bag, and ignored him, grim hostility the only emotion Naruto could read from him. He blinked stupidly for a moment, and then felt his insides chill as Sasuke turned a gaze of utter disinterest on him. Deep, chilling anger lay in those black eyes, the pain beneath almost invisible, the grudging warmth for Naruto that Sasuke had started to show was nowhere to be found.

It was the same look he'd had a few days ago when he'd finally woken from the strange illness that had overtaken him after his brother's infiltration of Konoha Weyr.

"This place is worthless," he said, voice flat, "Soft." He smirked contemptuously at Naruto, reaching out to jab his forehead. Naruto flushed self-consciously. So what if he wore the headband to bed. "And you're so proud."

Stung, Naruto glared back. Sasuke was an ass at the best of times but this was unusually nasty.

"What's your problem?" he snapped, "What do you mean, leaving? You can't leave!" Naruto's temper was rising too, in automatic response to Sasuke's arrogant manner, but that was only normal. What really overcame him was a further anger at this… this betrayal. They'd come so far. Naruto had even caught up, while Sasuke had been sick, passed his exam, though they'd had a knock-down drag-out raging fight when Sasuke had been well enough to leave the bed, well enough to pretend as though Naruto had accomplished nothing at all.

Sasuke was the smartest, quickest, strongest person Naruto knew. And he'd been so proud to have been catching up. Sasuke had been unimpressed. It had called for a fight, a pity it had gone unwon. Master Kakashi had pulled them apart before it went anywhere decisive.

And now he wanted to leave? Wasn't Naruto worth competing with anymore? He'd _shown_ him he was.

"There's nothing here for me," Sasuke said, voice hard with cold anger, but still so infuriatingly indifferent to Naruto's reaction. "I need strength. Power…"

"We're training—" Naruto exclaimed, cut off as Sasuke narrowed his eyes, mouth thinning in contempt.

"For trust?" he asked, "_Teamwork_?" he drew the word out mockingly. Naruto felt his glare intensify, and hurt welled up behind it. Sasuke's expression turned even more derisive, and he turned away.

Naruto threw back the covers and bounded forward. He yanked Sasuke around by his shoulder, and Sasuke moved with the motion, unbalancing him. Sasuke had been expecting it, turning easily and rushing forward smoothly, like they'd been taught in self defense, to land a blow that sank in Naruto's stomach.

Naruto stumbled back with a grunt, choking with lack of breath, but he kept his grip tight on Sasuke's shirt, and hauled them back together.

"You're going to find him, aren't you," he growled, "you can't, he's dangerous! I won't let you, I'll break your legs before that." He pulled back, reaching for the neatly folded headband that lay on the table between the beds. "Put this back on, you belong _here_," he shoved the headband against Sasuke's chest, "I thought we were—we were friends," he shook Sasuke, finding it hard to speak. His throat was blocked and his face was hot, and he told himself it was all anger.

"Friend. You… you stupid, soft runt." Sasuke said, and Naruto felt the empty tone like another punch. Sasuke's eyes were cold, hard. "No."

He bulled forward, crashing Naruto against the low night table so his knees buckled and the headband he still held jerked through his fingers, the embroidery caught on the table's corner. His head struck the stone wall. He saw stars, and then fingers were pressed against the arteries of his neck, and everything blurred, vision dimming.

"No more. It's a weakness," Sasuke hissed, black eyes slits in his pale face. "It's over."

Naruto couldn't move, all the rage and grief pounding at his chest, glaring at Sasuke, until he saw no more.

Sasuke watched Naruto's eyes fall shut, veiling that angry, uncomprehending gaze. He withdrew his hand.

_Do you hate me?_ He heard Itachi's poisonous whisper from that terrible day, as he always did, _Not enough._ _You're weak_.

He could kill Naruto now. He should. Then he'd be on the path as it was meant to be. Prove he wasn't weak, wasn't attached to useless things.

He imagined dragging Naruto to the bed, pressing the pillow down over his face. Feeling the struggles that would come even in unconsciousness, hands clawing at his arms.

Or he could use the work knife in his pack. Open Naruto's throat, empty his blood over the bed, empty his body of life, like Itachi had done to their parents.

His calmness eroded, his stomach rebelled, churning with nausea.

Blue eyes grinned at him from memory, clear and open. They were angry, challenging, gleeful, proud… and always completely uncaring of anything about Sasuke but Sasuke himself. Not that he hadn't been aware of Sasuke's situation. But Naruto hadn't been like everyone else, who'd simply... handled him, like a rabid dog, or idolized him, like his dim-minded peers who thought him a tragically romantic figure.

They'd both seen the similarities in each other's situation. Neither had ever so much as silently acknowledged it. Naruto had been genuine since the beginning. Laughing and teasing and taunting and aggravating from the moment they'd been stuck together in this tiny room.

Sakura's eyes were next, brimming with tears. That hadn't been the angry, childish betrayal of a jilted crush, but real grief. Her face had been drawn with it, not relaxing even when the knockout drug had taken affect. He'd left her on a bench in the dining hall, now mercifully silent, the half-empty mug on the table still.

And last, Itachi's scornful smirk flashed before his eyes, the half-remembered words from the recent attack returning like he'd heard them clear as day. _You still don't hate enough, little brother. It won't do. To kill me, you need to kill like me. _

Bile burned in his throat as the thought echoed again. _Be like me_.

Loathing for his brother overwhelmed him. Itachi needed to die. He poisoned everything.

"I'm not you," he said aloud. _I won't become you. I'll just kill you._


	2. Chapter 1 Meeting

**Chapter One: Landing**

Naruto tightened the bandana in a motion that was fast becoming habit. The spiral-leaf emblem embroidered on it sat right in the centre of his forehead, and he just couldn't bear to have it shift. Every time he became aware of the feeling of the bandana around his forehead, he was filled to the brim with pride, almost as much as the time Candidatemaster Iruka had finally said he was fit to stand at Hatchings. He'd failed the exam three times, finally getting a pass after the Candidatemaster had realized Naruto's advancement had been tampered with by one of the harpers charged with administering it.

Not that Naruto had helped his own case, he knew, the memory of many pranks played still quite capable of making him smirk. But it wasn't just his own delinquency that had failed him, rather the harper's prejudice against Naruto himself, for being the cursed survivor of an epidemic that had killed an entire cothold. It was marked on his face—three lines on each cheek, recalling the three lines on the cot's now-defunct shield—tattooed on him like on every child of the hold, but now a target for superstition rather than familial solidarity.

It didn't matter now, Naruto thought. He was done with the spectre of Kyuubi Cothold, done with his miserable time at Konoha Hold, he lived at the Weyr proper now, and he was a candidate, and he would be able show everyone just what he could do.

With a final light tug to both ends of the deep blue cloth, and a last minor adjustment to the knot's placement, Naruto returned to his task of checking the latches and rope fastenings that were securing the contents of the wagons. It was a long way from here to the Weyr, and he and a few other candidates had been ferried by dragonback from the Weyr to give the caravan a few extra hands.

He check the last line, then waved at the driver of that particular wagon who would soon be fetching out the great oxen from the stable to pull the load. It was still dark, the sun would be another hour rising at least, and even early in autumn the pre-dawn air snapped with chill. Naruto tugged his cloak closer around him, flipped up his hood, and headed for the lantern that marked the small door that he'd used to enter the stable yard.

Two people were silhouetted in the pool of light, now, and Naruto recognized one as the new candidate. She'd been Searched entirely by accident when the last dragon ferrying candidates had landed in the Hyuuga courtyard. Naruto had just slid off Candidatemaster Iruka's green Umith when the dragon stiffened suddenly and zeroed in on a girl near Naruto's age.

And there the new girl stood. Hinata was a short, meek-looking girl, and almost silent, at least from what Naruto had seen so far. She had turned out to be the heir of this entire hold, but despite that had accepted Umith's Search with a shaky but determined-looking nod. She was sixteen, she said, Naruto's age, and thus no longer a minor. Naruto hadn't liked the dismissive look in the Lord Holder's pale eyes as his heir was effectively poached by the Weyr, but there had been relief in Hinata's eyes as well, along with anticipation, so perhaps it was for the best.

Now she was backed against the stable-yard door by a tall boy who looked to be about their age, perhaps a year older.

"You were Searched? That's pathetic," a deep, cold voice carried through the still predawn air. "You may be Main Family but you're not worthy of being a drudge. Heir here, and now a candidate," he spat the last, "there's no justification for someone as spineless as you being a leader or a dragonrider." Naruto was taken aback by the intensity of the fury in that voice, and he picked up the pace. The boy glanced over as Naruto approached, pale eyes, the same shade as Hinata's, smouldered in an equally pale face, the contrast with his long black hair seeming starker in the small circle of light at the door.

Naruto came to a halt beside Hinata and crossed his arms, facing the boy with her. He didn't know her well yet, but the Weyr protected its own. "Naruto…" she whispered in acknowledgement. Her voice was shaky but she looked unafraid, and her stance was straight. Not all that spineless, Naruto thought, and glowered at the stranger. Hinata looked at the angry boy, regret and sadness in her eyes. "Cousin Neji… I hope to see you again," she whispered, and ducked past him towards the caravan to complete whatever morning chore she'd been assigned. Former heir or not, candidates were candidates.

The boy's pale eyes snapped back to glare at him, and Naruto met his look. "You're both Hyuuga? So how's she been better off than you?" he challenged. Naruto may never have had a family to compare things to, but he knew this wasn't the right kind of relationship for a good one. The other boy's mouth twisted bitterly at his question.

"Clearly she's not the only sub-intelligent in the Hold today. There are two kinds of us, weyrbrat. The Main Family, and the Branch," Naruto felt a vague recognition at the terms, and wished he'd paid better attention during history and politics lessons. "My _esteemed cousin,_ " Neji spun the words out with lengthy, sarcastic venom, "being born into the Main, was set to inherit this Hold, as weak and gutless as she is—" Naruto grabbed a fistful of Neji's cloak and yanked him a half-step forward. Dragonriders were neither weak nor gutless.

Undeterred, Neji pulled Naruto's grip away with a strong and sure motion, and continued, absently smoothing the wrinkles in his tunic, "while I, who far surpass her in all areas, am subordinate to her, and all Main House." Neji reached up and pulled down the black headband that held back his long, black hair until it looped loosely around his neck. A tattoo was now exposed, a green, hooked cross in the middle of his forehead, with a single line running horizontally away from both sides.

Now that, Naruto recognized. He had seen it for the first time only recently. Yesterday, in fact, adorning the foreheads of the blank-faced men and women that followed each ruling family member everywhere. He'd thought it might was a bodyguard mark, but now that he thought about it, they'd all had grey eyes, too. They were all the same family. But they didn't all share the same mark. "By an accident of birth," Neji snarled with marrow-deep resentment, "the weakling was the heir and I am the servant." He pushed the headband back up, tossing his head once to resettle his hair back into place.

Naruto's confusion at this arrogant holdbrat's treatment of the shy new candidate evaporated into disturbed understanding, though his initial defensive anger carried on. He wondered how someone so apparently educated as this could fail to see the irony in just who he was venting his frustration to. He realized his face must be mostly in shadow, backlit as he was by the door's lamp and concealed by his hood.

"Don't go thinking you're special," he growled right back, flipping the hood back and stepping right back against the door, the lamp's light falling fully onto his face, and Neji's eyes widened with the mildly repulsed recognition that Naruto was very used to seeing. "You aren't the only one marked to take shit from other people," Neji's eyes flicked up, taking in the candidate bandana, and Naruto couldn't stop a grin of pride. "But I'm not sitting back and _taking _it," his grin flattened and he raised his chin defiantly. "When I'm weyrleader I'll come back and fix this place for ya, how about it?"

Neji's eyes widened and he choked slightly in surprised anger. Naruto had hit a mark, there. His boasting over, he went on with a speculative frown, his anger fading fully as he regarded the stiff, hard-eyed boy, "You know, I think you're jealous of Hinata, for getting to leave, but I don't see you trying to." He paused, curious, "Why don't you? You're old enough to apply, right? Come with us to the Weyr when we go. Be a candidate," he offered. The other boy's face tightened to a grim mask, a ripple of shock and unease that from the suggestion passing across his features before they froze, his eyes gone steely.

There was no time to ask anything else. The door behind Naruto opened so suddenly he was nearly knocked off his feet, forcing him to grab the edge to avoid falling. "Here you are. Neji!" a hard voice snapped. Neji twitched, angry fear sparking at the edge of his glower, and as quickly hidden. Naruto looked around the door's edge to see the silhouette of someone inside, "get back inside_ immediately _and wait at Lord Hyuuga's chambers. This is unacceptable." The person, a Branch-marked older man whom Naruto had seen before trailing the Lord Holder, spotted him holding onto the edge of the door, and bowed slightly, looking chagrined. "Apologies, candidate, I opened the door too hastily. Please excuse me, as well as this… upstart." The pause before the end was filled with the contemptuous words the man didn't say.

Neji's expression was rigidly blank when Naruto turned back. He exhaled, nearly silent and very controlled, before turning and moving towards the door without another look. The man strode forward stopped him, a hand gripping his shoulder and jerking him to a halt. "How dare you cover the mark," he said, cold fury taking over his tone. He reached up and yanked at the cloth, ripping a few strands of hair out as he did. He was unable to pull it off as he'd intended, the knot holding fast so that all he did was cause Neji to stagger forward, the cloth's knot holding firm.

Neji's face was still numbly set, but a flush of anger was in his cheeks. A couple of narrow bands of white cloth were all that held back his hair now, identical to what the older man wore. The mark was left clearly displayed. Without a word, Neji reached back under his long hair to undo the tightened knot, and finally the black cloth came loose. The older man snatched it away, and shoved Neji towards the door, and in they went, the ends of the cloth fluttering from the man's fist.

Naruto watched both Hyuugas go, only entering once they'd turned a corner at the end of the hall. His initial dislike of Neji was gone. The arrogance and harsh words no longer bothered him. Neji was acting superior, even though he clearly knew he was considered inferior. It reminded Naruto of how he'd pestered and pranked people at Konoha Hold when they'd been ignoring him.. It felt like the same kind of defiant bid for acknowledgment.

He headed back to the guest room he shared with Kiba and Lee. It was time to rouse them for their morning chores, and grab a few more minutes of sleep before the morning meal was rung. But after they'd left, he couldn't manage to drop off. Those pale eyes lingered in his memory.

The true meaning of the tattoo was hard to accept. The Branch House Hyuuga looked for all the world like the rest of the ruling family, but he realized those grey-eyed people he'd seen here and there with the green lines on their foreheads were, essentially… I _owned _by other people. Owned, like a dog or a horse.

That was such a perversion of the meaning of hold family tattoos, the solidarity and comradeship that they were supposed to indicate, that it was sickening. Worse even than the twisted connotation of the lines on Naruto's cheeks. And it also meant… that it probably wasn't so simple a matter for Neji to just leave.

Holds were protected by the Weyrs, not governed by them, and while a Hold could lose the protection if it chose to withdraw it's tithe, a Weyr could never—would never—leave a tithing hold undefended, and Hyuuga was the biggest sources of supplies Konoha Weyr had, after Konoha Hold. Hyuuga's traditions were theirs to keep, and theirs to change. But dragonriders had influence, and traditions could be overturned, eventually. Opinions could be changed. _This won't last forever_, Naruto thought, rolling over restlessly, _I refuse_. He was going to make the world see him as a person, as a dragonrider… He would make people see other things in a new way too.

During breakfast, Kiba had Hinata sit by him, and Naruto saw nothing of Neji again. He wasn't among the silent servers that carried platters to and from the long tables.

Later, Naruto sat on horseback in the stable yard. The sun had just risen over the horizon and the caravan was just about ready to leave. A movement by the door caught his eye. It was a small girl, Hinata's little sister, if he remembered right. She'd been there when Hinata had been Searched. She was carrying a small pack, and ran to where Hinata was about to mount up, passing it to her and hugging her tight. When she trotted back to the door, however, another familiar figure stood there. His expression was unreadable, but Naruto saw his gaze come to rest on his departing cousin, then travel down the line of the readying caravan until it stopped, still schooled to blankness, on Naruto.

Neji was still as a statue in his black-trimmed beige tunic and trousers, the epitome of detachment. His arms were at his sides, the long sleeves of the tunic hanging past his wrists. A flicker of white caught Naruto's eye, below the black fabric that edged the right sleeve, a wrapping of some kind, but then Neji shifted slightly and pulled his hands behind his back. His face didn't so much as twitch. The mark stood out starkly on his forehead, the bright morning light illuminating every line.

Naruto stared back. _This is the wrong place for you _he thought, though Neji now seemed to be someone else entirely. The will he'd encountered earlier, the fuel for that intense, searing anger, had been so strong that he had a hard time reconciling that Neji with the utterly cool, detached-looking Hyuuga servant standing at the door at this moment. All that pain had to still be there… he might burn himself out, Naruto imagined, consume himself from the inside, since there was nowhere for the anger to go but into hatred and misery, no way to pit that lonely drive against the looming oppression of The Way Things Were. But there was no sign of it now, or of anything. All masked and hidden, flawlessly, under the calm face all the Hyuuga servants wore, below the Branch mark.

The connection lasted for only a moment until Hinata's sister gave Neji a peremptory wave and he followed her back inside, moving rather stiffly. At the threshold, he paused infinitesimally, head turning slightly as if for a last glance over his shoulder, then only clenched his fists where they rested against the small of his back. The door closed between them and Neji was gone. Stomach tightening, Naruto felt the reins digging into his palms and he forced himself to relax as best he could, before his mount reacted to the frustrated restlessness that made him want to do… something.

He was forcibly distracted when the lead driver called out. The wide gates had been opened, and they were on their way.

Hours down the trail, the sun hot on his shoulders, Naruto had tried to let himself be distracted by riding antics and chatter among his fellow candidates, but despite managing to throw a few jokes and rude comments into the mix, he found himself periodically preoccupied by Neji instead, his proud stance and the smooth mask that covered the pain and anger beneath. He felt a sense of recognition towards that frustration and longing. Naruto didn't think he and Neji had very much in common, but…

Naruto idly rubbed the fingers of his right hand up and down over his cheek, as though wiping something from his skin, then realized what he was doing and yanked his hand back down to hold the reins again, annoyed with himself. He hadn't done that in over a year. The old tic had developed before he could remember, when he'd lived at Konoha Hold, where he'd been every bit as stubborn as he was now, and no less aware of the scorn, distaste, and superstitious hatred aimed his way. He'd borne it, but along the way, without even realizing it, he'd begun trying to cover the marks on his cheeks whenever he encountered hostility or negative attention. Which had not been infrequently, since negative attention was easy to get, and any attention was better than none.

Master Iruka had noticed. "Naruto, there's nothing there," he'd said, only days after Naruto had come to the Weyr, and already being lectured for pulling a prank on the other new candidates, "you're not here for a dirty face."

Naruto had suddenly felt the pressure and heat of his fingers on his cheeks, and jerked his hands away to stare them in embarrassment and surprise. No, there wasn't anything there… except what could never be rubbed off. He'd glanced up at Iruka, whose stern expression had given way to a look of apologetic recognition. The Candidatemaster reached up himself to rub his thumb across the scar that ran over the bridge of his nose, pinching it gently. "Naruto," he'd sighed, and then continued with his lecture.

Naruto had had the oddest sensation as he'd left Iruka's office afterwards, something warm and… comforting, beneath the guilty disgruntlement from the lecture, and he hadn't been able to figure out what until the next time he caught himself rubbing at his cheeks, in the wake of a glare from a visiting caravan trader. Once again, he'd yanked his hand down as soon as he'd noticed, and Iruka's reaction came back to him as well, along with a burst of realization.

Iruka's scar wasn't exactly like the tattoos, and Naruto didn't know where or how the original injury had occurred, either, but it had some meaning, something that everyone could see on his face, just like Naruto's marks.

Iruka had _understood _him. Part of him, at least. It had seemed like a miracle.

And there had been Sasuke. But that had been perfectly, uselessly mutual awareness. Each quite conscious of the other's unusual past. Both ignoring it in favour of mutual antagonism and competition. Neither of them had been able to help the other, their ultimate goals completely separate, until Sasuke split so far from the rest of them that he'd… left.

As with every time he thought of Sasuke, the dull ache of anger and grief and worry about something he was powerless to address—yet—flared up for a moment, the emotions almost routine, but never gone.

Now, Naruto felt the realization and the recognition both. He shared with Neji the weight of people's gazes. They both had to see people's instant dismissive judgment about both their worth. But this time, the understanding was painful, not reassuring. There was a deep ache of sympathy, instead of comfort. Neji knew what Naruto's marks meant, but Naruto had broken free of their stigma. Neji hadn't.

When the caravan paused to rest the animals at midday, he found himself next to Hinata as they tethered their horses for grazing.

"Hinata. Sorry for sticking my nose in this morning," he said, conscious that despite his initial observation at the time, Hinata had not been badly affected by her cousin. She appeared shy, Naruto decided, but there was a core of strength beneath it. She was a candidate, after all. Dragons always knew.

"Don't worry, N—naruto," she stammered, shaking her head, "I apologize for m—my cousin's behaviour." The sadness in her voice belied the words that defended her family's honour.

"Seemed like he had reason to be mad," Naruto shrugged, then grimaced, adding, "Uh, I don't mean that you—"

Hinata turned a shy, sad smile on him for a moment. "I know."

"Can't he just apply to be a candidate?" Naruto asked, "Isn't he old enough? He'd be out of there, and even if he never Impressed, he could stay at the Weyr…"

Hinata shook her head. "It's… not allowed. Of course the Hold charter s—says any person who is so inclined may apply when they are of age… but…" guilt darkened her face and she looked back along the road to the now-distant Hold, "the Branch can't leave the Hold. They're allowed to leave if Searched, but they're a—always kept busy and elsewhere when a territory Search is called or a dragon is at the Hold."

Guilt dragged at her features. "Don't look like that," Naruto said firmly, refusing to let her be miserable for something she had not begun, and obviously didn't support, "you didn't make it that way." But guilt of his own settled into the pit of his stomach. Hyuuga Hold was a cage for Neji, and all Naruto had done was taunt him through the bars.


	3. Chapter 2 Leaving

**Chapter Two: Leaving**

Neji secured one end of the long bandage in his teeth, carefully tying off the knot with the other hand. So much of his skin was numbed from the salve right now, he could only do his best not to fasten the wrappings too tightly. Even with the lack of sensation, though, he kept his movements to a minimum. The lengths of sterile cloth that wrapped around his torso to protect the welts on his back would shift if he wasn't careful. At least the bandages that covered the burned skin of his right arm and leg would be easier to keep in place.

By the time he'd been permitted to redo the morning's bandaging, the whole day had passed, and the first application of numbweed salve had lost its potency. He wasn't looking forward to tomorrow morning, when the relief from salve he had just slathered on would have once again have given way to burning dicomfort.

He'd been disciplined before, but never so thoroughly as this. But then, he'd violated a good number of rules simply by being in the stable yard that morning, instead of outside Hanabi's rooms. Not to mention covering his forehead, which was worst of all.

Uncle had directed him into the bathing room, bound his hands, looped the rope over a hook on the wall over Neji's head, and let Cousin Naota take care of the rest. And Naota had no tolerance for rule-breaking.

Naota was quite experienced at giving pain without leaving room for dangerous injury. Neji's back had few open wounds. The raw places and swathes of bruising covered a wide area, but the strap had been wielded skilfully and little skin was broken. It might've stayed that way if Naota hadn't demanded Neji acknowledge Naota's rank in this Hold.

"That of the simplest drudge," Neji had said, pleased to hear he could still muster the derision he felt for Naota into his voice, "following your master. Unable to so much as wipe the slime from beneath your nose without direction."

It was fortunate for Neji that the curtain of hair protected his face when Naota flung caustic cleaning solution from the nearby maintenance cupboard against him. As it was, it spattered up to his right hand where it was still held by the rope binding both wrists. The greatest volume sloshed over his upper arm and splashed down to his right thigh, the remainder trickling burning trails down his right side, and soaking through the pants he still wore to eat at his leg.

Naota had been almost shaking with rage, and also embarrassment at having lost control. Despite the rapidly worsening burn, Neji was satisfied at having provoked him, and had smiled slightly as Naota had dashed a bucket of cold water over his head to rinse off the cleaning solution. Neji was cut down from his bonds with an order to clean himself up by the time the morning meal was done.

By the time Hinata and the Kyuubi brat and the other weyrlings had gone, he hadn't been feeling much of anything.

Now here he sat, finishing his second turn at cleaning his wounds, perched gingerly on the edge of his cot in the tiny room off Hinata's former quarters. He hadn't yet been moved to Hanabi's, as it was more likely she'd simply take over her sister's slightly larger rooms.

He felt exhausted, but uninterested in sleep. He drifted back over the long day. It had mostly been spent standing behind Hanabi as the new little heiress took her suddenly more complicated lessons, including one in traditional combat, which Neji had had to participate in, endurable only because the numbweed had still been working at the time.

But what dominated his memories of the day was the departure of the tithe caravan. He'd watched Hanabi run to Hinata, suppressing the poisonous envy that surged in him, and then his gaze had wandered, looking for that mess of blond over the tattooed face of the Kyuubi brat… Naruto. Who'd been looking straight at him already.

Neji had seen his gaze catch on the bandages around his hand, and had hidden the evidence of his punishment before even realizing it, though why he should care about what that perfect stranger thought, he couldn't have said. And then Naruto had met his eyes, and he'd had to work at maintaining composure when faced with the impact of compassion in that unhappy blue gaze.

What a strange individual. That boy had stepped up into his face only hours earlier, clearly ready to fight in defense of Hinata, of all people (this night, though, the automatic slur upon his shy cousin was a reflex and nothing more), and then insulted Neji while at the same time promising to help him, and then, to top all of the other strangeness, had simply asked, guilelessly and apparently sincerely, why Neji didn't just come along.

That face, that marked and disdained person, known in tales around the territory as someone out of a cursed hold, had been incomprehensibly friendly. Neji's eye fell on the small, polished-silver mirror on the wall across from him. He felt like a phantom suddenly, white skin, white bandages, pale eyes. Black hair fading into the shadows of his room. All of him fading, all but one thing. Naota had not returned his headband with his other clothes, and had threatened another whipping if Neji was ever caught hiding the Branch mark again. There it was, half veiled by a few strands of hair, indelible.

The Kyuubi brat had had to face marks of his own, though, and he'd made something of himself.

_But it's not the same_, Neji thought at the departed candidate,_ I'm not like you. Hard work doesn't change my fate. _

Still, he couldn't deny that of all the people in this world, that boy was the first who had realized the meaning of the Branch tattoo and then simply dismissed it. Hyuuga Hold's residents saw only the mark, and he seemed like a collared pet in their eyes, interchangeable among the others with the same mark, distinguishable only because he was the single Cousin with a temper that hadn't yet been broken. He was the target of occasional pity from visitors, of disdain from Uncle and Hanabi, of disgusted ire from his Cousins, among whom he was the youngest, and who clung to whatever stature they thought the mark granted and jockeyed amongst themselves for favour in Uncle's eyes.

Neji had spent so long among his mindless Cousins he'd come to think of himself as the exception. But Naruto had understood the feeling, and of course, how could he not, with what he'd had to face?

But even with the new sense that Neji's burden was suddenly one shared by another… He _couldn't _just leave Hyuuga Hold, walk out the door and never return.

But then, Neji wondered suddenly, his bandaged fist flexing along with his unharmed one as he thought of all the doors in Hold's high wall, why not?

* * *

It turned out to be the easiest thing in the world. And more difficult than tearing out his own heart.

Two days after the tithe train's departure, Neji held his pack carefully to his chest and let himself out through the reinforced door behind the pipe-maintenance shed, then closed it behind him, hearing the latch fall into place with a finality that froze him for a moment of utter terror, all his confidence briefly supplanted. He was on the outside (the _wrong_ side, a tiny, horror-struck part of him whimpered) of a locked door in a smooth stone wall over thirty feet high. In front of him was a well-trodden path through thick forest. He couldn't get back in, he was trapped now. Outside. Where Thread fell. The ingrained fear of that deadly, all-consuming spore dried his mouth until he tasted dust.

There was a reason people did not go outside with no way back into their home, into safe, stone buildings. There was a reason why no one would expect anyone to simply leave a Hold. Because it meant, every single person on the planet was taught from infancy, that you would die.

_Think_, he ordered himself, the pain from his back deflecting the wave of panic before it overtook him completely. There was no Thread this night. He knew the fall pattern, as everyone did. The next fall would be in three days, and what were the dragons for if not to keep Thread from falling to the earth? There were stone buildings dotting the roads, he'd heard that from guests at the Hold, built and maintained to allow travel. The caravan that his cousin had left with would be using those very shelters. Thread would not harm him.

Still, he stayed for long minutes, pressed against the thin metal plates that covered the wooden door, his lacerated back throbbing from the pressure. He ignored it, his good arm clutching his pack to his chest like a shield, too overwhelmed, now, knowing that his home, his family… his life—such as it all was, it was still everything he knew—was literally behind him. He'd studied many things, but practiced few, and he was now alone. Once it was discovered he had left the confines of Hyuuga, he would never be accepted alive into the Hold again. He was delivering the ultimate insult of defiance to the Main House, and there was no tolerance for it. Naota alone would kill him simply on principle, never mind orders from Uncle.

He had now lost everything here, he thought. And then he shook his head. No. He'd thrown it away of his own volition. He could be his own person, if he could only walk away.

Leaving it all had been as simple as gathering supplies and slipping away during the night, as simple as that.

As simple as someone just asking him to. _"Come with us to the Weyr when we go."_

Not with them, no. But leave, he could. It was ridiculous how long he'd simply been sulking, instead of doing, because he hadn't been able to see the most obvious solution.

Now he was afraid, though the fear of his uncle's punishments had always hung over him, and even now burned in the skin of his back. He was also unexpectedly lonely, despite being close to none of his blood relatives or the other inhabitants of the Hold since the death of his parents.

And yet none of that could make him stay. Freedom was the rough path outside this small door, and a wide road further on.

He'd been gripping the cage bars so long he'd failed to see the wide open door.


	4. Chapter 3 Landing

**Chapter Three: Landing**

Dread tickled at the back of his neck despite the sure shelter of this safehouse. It was built of solid stone, the few windows deep in the thick walls, and Thread could not penetrate anywhere, but Neji still sat rigid and apprehensive on one of the rough wooden cots while he waited out the 'fall.

He'd never felt such primal fear as when he'd reached the open road at last, only to look up and see the silver shimmer of Thread in the distant sky. The cloudless day offered far too perfect a view of the falling spores, glimmering like a long line of shiny smoke.

He'd run then. The pain of his lashes and burns secondary as he ran and ran down the wagon-rutted road. There was a safehouse along this road, and it had to be near. He'd carefully calculated his path.

After many long minutes, he could see it, a squat grey brick of a building, when the ache in his lungs made him stop running. He panted, swallowed, and gasped at the sudden searing agony down his back and his right arm and leg that resurged as the rush of fear ebbed.

He didn't look up again, and just forced his way onward, stumbling through the recessed door into the single large room. No one else was here. He let his bag fall to the floor, and stood half-bent, staring unseeing at the packed dirt floor, until he caught his breath again.

He lowered himself awkwardly to the floor. Everything hurt. He was alone and Thread was falling outside.

But he was free.

He'd not heard any pursuit during his time in the forest. When fall was over, he would keep moving. With any luck they'd think him dead now anyway, caught out in the fall.

Now he sat, bag at his feet, until the last of his panic from the sight of Thread was gone. He had the pot of numbweed salve out, and the spare bandages as well, when the safehouse door banged open.

Multiple pairs of booted feet stamped inside. Neji froze, then jerked his bag over the numbweed and bandages before he dared glance over his shoulder.

There had been no barked orders in those few seconds, just the bustle of motion, and what Neji saw made him weak with relief. Not Hyuuga Cousins, or even Hold militia, only the local ground crew.

Four had entered, and Neji could hear the noise of more outside. They stood there, exposed to the sky yet fearless of Thread, and indeed they had little to fear. Large canvas tarps hanging along one wall were yanked back to revealed stacks of flamethrowers, the tanks and nozzles well-worn, but, Neji could see, well-kept.

They ignored him—he was a traveller, and they had work to do, patrolling the area to ferret out any speck of fallen Thread. Unchecked, anything the dragonriders missed would eat everything living, expanding until it ran out of food. Neji had once seen an ashy grey swath bitten out of the forest near the hold. The ash was the remains of the seared thread, but before the Hyuuga ground crew had burnt it away, it had consumed an area of forest as wide as the entire hold.

He watched them from the corner of his eye, trying to appear busy with his bag, as they hauled out the flamethrowers to their fellows outside.

He looked up at the wrong moment as the last crewmember slung the final flamethrower tank onto his back, and their eyes met. The man's eyebrows rose in surprise, and Neji's hands gripped painfully at the rough canvas of his bag. His eyes were far too recognizable here. The man's brown was the common colour, not Neji's Hyuuga grey.

"Huh," the man grunted, eyes flicking to the bandana covering Neji's mark. It too was obvious while he was in this territory. None of the Main Family wore anything like that, their foreheads bare and unmarked for all to see. "Yer best be out. En't no one missed the message 'bout you." Then he grinned, weathered face crinkling into kindly wrinkles. "En't no one decent thinkin' to catch ye, though, just 'em lordy types. G'luck, boy." He stomped out the door and yelled for someone named Abby to "get 'erself along with the other half and take south," and the ground crew was off to their work.

Neji stared after him in numb astonishment. It had taken a moment to work through the man's rough cothold dialect, but he understood now that there was a warning out for him. That this man hadn't alerted his companions and taken Neji in was a confusing surprise.

Whatever the reason, the man's words were wise; Neji had to leave quickly. He yanked his tunic over his head, gritting his teeth at the waves of agony that came off his raw, inflamed skin. He had to get it numbed and leave as soon as Threadfall was over.

* * *

Kakashi slapped Hataketh firmly on the neck, leaning back as he tied the leftover sack of firestone to the riding straps. The big blue rumbled in his chest, satisfaction that mirrored Kakashi's underlying his words. 

_Good Fall,_ he stated confidently, and Kakashi eyed the re-forming ranks of the fighting wings. No injuries worse than a bit of char burn. All in all an excellent outing. Too bad it wasn't quite over yet. Kakashi waved at his immediate neighbour, and Asuma returned the gesture, before Kakashi and a few others broke from formation to wheel off towards their respective ground inspection territories. He tightened the scarf over his face against the wind.

The Queen's Wing had reported that nothing had fallen past them, which made it unlikely that an errant thread was burrowing and spreading somewhere in the forest or fields below, but check they must, and check they did.

Hataketh flew low over the treetops, scaring up a few screeching birds, but there was nothing to be seen, and when they glided over the ground crew from the nearby Cothold, the leader waved the bright yellow all-clear flag.

The blue wheeled another slow turn over the ground crew, as protocol dictated, and Kakashi blinked slowly in surprise when the leader pulled a second flag. The bleached white cloth bore a stylized shelter outline in bold black with a red dot within. Someone was at the safehouse who needed help. _It's a detour this time,_ Kakashi said to Hataketh in surprise. Hataketh dipped one wing in farewell, and Kakashi waved briefly as they turned to fly towards the safehouse.

Hataketh backwinged and landed neatly in the middle of the road. He tilted his head at the safehouse, eyes greying slightly and Kakashi felt worry roll off his dragon.

_The one in there is hurting_ the blue said, _he's lost. _

Kakashi slid to the ground and gave his dragon a curious look. The blue was a lithe, agile dragon, as big as the smaller browns but faster, an excellent fighter, quick-minded and good-natured, but not generally sensitive to other humans. He'd certainly never Searched anyone. Kakashi wasn't even sure that was what he was doing now.

_Yes,_ the blue answered his confusion succinctly. Kakashi shrugged, adjusted his scarf from under Pakkun (the brown fire lizard shifted a bit against Kakashi's neck in his doze, but otherwise ignored him), and went to the door, rapping once and opening it to reveal the familiar roomful of cots. There was only one person inside. Black hair hung halfway down his back, and Kakashi had only a moment to take in the hair style and the cut of the beige and black clothing before the young man jerked around to face him in an awkward spin, and stood, wary and tense.

The grey eyes confirmed it. This was a Hyuuga. That alone was pretty astonishing. The Hyuuga were as shut-in as they were hidebound. You didn't find them wandering around like this without a massive retinue. But the black bandana covering his forehead made it even more unbelievable. Kakashi blinked, tightening his mouth against a flood of memories. This boy was one of the Branch. On his own.

The young man's eyes widened, taking in the dark green flight jacket and embroidered headband with ill-concealed interest.

Kakashi raised one hand in a casual wave. "Weyrlingmaster Kakashi of blue Hataketh, of Konoha Weyr. How're you, traveler?" He spoke silently to Hataketh as well. _Let Umith know that there's a new one coming in. _

"Well enough," the young man answered with rigid politeness, no hint of relaxation touching his posture. There was an obvious urgency about him, but he let none of it affect his manners. He bowed, as stiffly as he had spoken. "If you are of the Weyr, I would request some information of you."

"Well, I have one piece you can have for free," Kakashi raised his eyebrows, smiled slightly behind his scarf, and continued, "Hataketh out there finds you interesting enough to haul back for candidacy."

That certainly stopped the kid in his tracks. Kakashi was mildly amused by the shocked look his words caused, and not at all surprised by the relief that rose behind it after a few seconds. It was obvious enough the boy was on the run, and Kakashi silently thanked the ground crew leader for alerting him. _This one is not going to be caught_, he thought darkly, feeling the phantom ache in his bad eye, and the memory of grey eyes like this boy's grinning at him from a different, younger face, Obito's ever-present toothpick between his teeth while they made great plans for the future. Dragons and Weyrs and fighting the scourge that fell from the skies together. He'd arrived filthy and exuberant at Kakashi's small home hold, just over the territory border of Hyuuga land, and stayed for nearly a year.

But Hyuuga was relentless and Obito was dead, and Kakashi had nothing left of him but a scar cut through his eye that had healed thick and white.

The altogether different pale-eyed young man before him regained his excessively formal manner quickly. Kakashi knew his own expression hadn't wavered. He continued without missing a beat. "Are you of age?"

"Yes, sir," came the answer, "I am Neji of Hyuuga, turned seventeen a month ago." The Weyr would verify that with the Harperhall, where the records for all holds and cots were kept, but Neji was Searched, so it was only relevant in that it would avoid Kakashi having to request permission that would never come from the Hyuuga family head.

He had a feeling, though, that even if the boy had been under sixteen, Tsunade and Iruka would still have accepted him as a candidate. The Weyr didn't regard Hyuuga's ways highly enough to give up a candidate in order to pacify them.

"Alright then, I'll get these attached to Hataketh." Kakashi hefted Neji's bag and strode out through the door.

* * *

Neji stared at the back of Dragonrider Kakashi's flight jacket, absently noting the lump of sleeping brown firelizard and the twined loop of rank knot on his left shoulder—bluerider at Konoha by the colours, weyrlingmaster by the braid, Neji's mind supplied, hours of study providing the meaning—not quite sure he could believe this. After a few seconds he followed, the late afternoon sun warm on his face when he exited the building. 

There was a dragon sitting on the road, comfortable on its haunches, forearms down between big hind feet as a cat could sit, tail curled loosely around him.

The massive creature swung its long-muzzled head toward Neji, the faceted eyes swirling with the green and blue of a relaxed dragon. This one looked to be perhaps thirty-five feet long. Blues were the second-smallest type of dragon… and yet this one was immense, to Neji's eyes. Neji had seen full-grown stallions, and massively bulky, stolid oxen, but this…

The dragon was lean and tough-looking, his hairless, sky-blue hide marked here and there by scars Neji knew had to come from Threadfall. His wings seemed too small, folded against him, the delicate-looking wingfingers and fragile membranes tucked close to his sides.

The blue cocked his head, and rose to stand on all fours, his big hind legs supporting most of his weight, large forepaws—hands, Neji corrected himself, the dragon had fingers, even if they were tipped with deadly-looking claws—flexing idly into the dirt road while his rider secured Neji's bag to the straps that were buckled at the base of the dragon's neck.

When he was done, the dragon stretched, suddenly catlike again, and Neji couldn't hold in a gasp or stop himself from stepping back as the wings extended fully, each one the length of the dragon's entire body. The sails were translucent, traced with a web of veins, and even more fragile-looking now that he could see them properly. Hataketh let out a loud yawn, his voice growling out somewhere between that of a wild lion and one of the huge guard-type dogs. If either animal could grow to past thirty feet long, maybe.

"Yeah, he is impressive." Kakashi drawled, looking eminently satisfied in a way that Neji was sure was a put-on for non-riders, but there was real pride underlying it, the kind Neji could remember feeling, barely, the kind that swelled the chest and firmed the chin and filled the heart, this kind Neji's parents had given him. And something else, something softer in Kakashi's visible eye. Another emotion Neji could barely recall, that he first thought was simply happiness, until he realized; it was love.

Then the dragonrider was back to the vaguely amused, overly-relaxed-looking man he'd been the second before. He swung himself up and secured himself, adjusting straps, and then he extended one arm to Neji.

Glad he could reach out with his undamaged left arm, and not his right, Neji held firm to the strong forearm and was hauled up to settled in the space behind Rider Kakashi.

After the first second of settling himself, he felt it instantly—size aside Hataketh was nothing like a horse. Horses were firm, strong, they were warm and they breathed, and the dragon was all these things, yes, but he moved so differently, and Neji could feel the intelligence in Hataketh's motions, the intent and understanding that a horse could never achieve. Dragons had no reins.

What did this feel like for the rider, he wondered, who felt not only the physical, but the mental part of it all?

"Get this on," he was handed a harness that he slid into gingerly, leery of shifting the bandages on his numb back. The bluerider snapped the dangling straps to loops on Hataketh's harness, tugged each one to test it, and then patted the blue neck.

"Try to move with him, not against him," Rider Kakashi said over his shoulder, "Takeoffs are always bumpy till you learn how to move with'em. And then we're going **Between**."

Neji felt his hands tighten to fists on his thighs.

"It's frightening," Kakashi went on, and Neji frowned but couldn't detect any hint of patronizing tone. "You'll feel like there's nothing around you, and you don't have a dragon in your head. So count slowly, sing a song in your head, recite a poem. Something. It'll help," Neji nodded once. "Alright. Hold on!"

Kakashi slapped Hataketh's neck, and there was a massive lurch that had Neji grab hurriedly for the straps at the back of Kakashi's harness, clinging as Hataketh's first whooshing wingbeats jerked them gradually higher, and Neji saw the ground drop below them with dizzying speed.

The dragon's wings locked in the extended position as they caught a current and Neji's grip tightened and his ears popped as they suddenly were incomprehensibly high. He swallowed to relieve the pressure and the wind was suddenly much louder.

"I like to get a good view before I go home," came the faraway sound of the bluerider's voice, yelling over the rushing air, and Neji stared at the spreading quilt of the ground below them. The deep blue-green of the forest was a massive irregular bulge to the south of the tiny winding road, a thread of dirt-brown against the trees. Meadows spread beyond that. To the north the forest stretched far enough that its distant border with the swampland was a blur of blue-green into grey.

Hataketh made a banking turn that made Neji's stomach drop as he was tilted sideways, and Neji looked east. Bright, healthy fields lay in organized rectangles. Sun sparkle bounced off the sky-blue ribbon of river that ran beyond them. Like a stone among jewels Neji could see the dull blue-grey sandstone walls of Hyuuga Hold, the sharp lines outlining the corners and narrow corridors of his home.

It was so small.

"Say goodbye," Kakashi shouted, and Neji thought for a second he heard satisfaction in those words..

Hataketh glided for a few moments longer, and then Kakashi added, "Start counting." and the world vanished and

_one _

there was nothing and nowhere. There was frozen dark around him and inside him and

_two _

he couldn't see, couldn't shout, couldn't whisper, couldn't move or

_three_

breathe, he couldn't feel his heart pounding or his lungs gasping, only rising fear

_fo—_

and then he could feel air again. The wind's autumn chill when the world returned felt like a warm caress. The void was gone. Neji had to force himself to loosen his grip before he drove the leather straps of Kakashi's harness into his palm hard enough to bruise.

He sucked in a breath of air, and another, and another. He could feel his heart pounding now, hammering in his chest.

"Now look at that, because you won't see it from this angle too often till you Impress," Kakashi called back to him, and he realized his eyes were pinched shut.

He forced them open.

The skinny road and the needle-tree forest and Hyuuga Hold were gone. Below them now was a massive stone bowl, a dead volcano. Rolling wild fields lapped up against the near curve, and from their location—the southern edge, by the sun's orientation—Neji could see two wide roads leading right up to the wall. That was where the tithe trains went, Neji realized, where that Kyuubi boy and his fellow candidates had taken the Hyuuga carts to the tunnels that passed beneath the walls of the weyrbowl.

Thick forest, more varied than the one they had just left, grew right up against the wall around the rest of it's perimeter. The leafy trees were changing colour, spreading orange and yellow among the permanent green of the needle-trees. The Weyr was a lone mountain, though far beyond Neji could see the rise and dip of the landscape that were the foothills of this continent's mountain range.

The bowl itself wasn't just bare stone. Green carpeted a good half, a lake filling the low end of the irregular oval. Trees dotted the grass. The rest, ancient volcanic rock, looked worn smooth, though not quite flat, by the years after the caldera had come into being, long before the dragonriders had made it a home.

But it wasn't only the grass and trees that showed the life of this place. It was the people, and the dragons.

Neji could pick them out from his position on Hataketh. They perched on the wide cliff-like rim, or were gliding gracefully in the bowl and a few were even in the surrounding airspace, arriving at or leaving the Weyr.

Hataketh was gliding smoothly, following the curve of the rim. Neji stared at the lounging dragons. Lithe greens and blues, heavy-set browns, and here and there a bronze, largest of the males. On the far side of the bowl Neji could even make out one hulking golden shape. Biggest of the dragons, mother and leader to them all, a queen.

A few were stretched out, some were curled up. They were alone or in pairs or groups, many with wings half-extended to catch the sun.

Neji's eyes were drawn to the movement in the bowl. A few dragons were making short flights from the ground to the small cave-mouths that dotted the inner walls, each one the entrance to a dragonpair's personal weyr.

Hataketh neared a jutting part of the rim that rose well above the rest. A brown dragon perched there, not relaxed like the others but poised and alert.

Hataketh's neck expanded between Neji's legs as he inhaled, and then his body vibrated with the noise as he let out a brassy bellow. The other dragon extended his wings and returned the call in a deeper voice.

The watchdragon, of course. Hataketh was signalling his arrival home. Neji had never seen the watch pairs that lived at Hyuuga except from a distance. Dragonpairs rotated the position, and kept mostly to their quarters, the dragon's "weyr" consisting of a half-covered roof on a squat building not attached to the main part of the hold, with the rider's room below.

Not at all like this magnificent place.

Hataketh dipped a wing at the brown as they passed, and swerved to glide towards the stony ground below. With a backwing and gentle downstroke he landed them lightly near a low stone building that adjoined the south wall of the bowl right where the stone floor became dirt and grass.

The reality that had fallen away when they'd launched from Hyuuga returned.

Kakashi unclipped his straps, swung one leg over and slid down. Neji worked at his own straps, looking slowly at his surroundings. The bowl looked huge and vast from within, the walls rising far above, contracting the world to the Weyr itself and the sky above.

"He's all yours," Neji heard Kakashi say, and turned to see him sketching a casual salute at another man, brown-skinned, with a scar over the bridge of his nose and a prickly expression at Kakashi's casualness.

"Thank you," he returned the salute more formally, and then turned a benevolent and welcoming face to Neji. "I'm Candidatemaster Iruka, rider of green Umith," he introduced himself.

That gave Neji momentary pause. Green. That meant… No, he'd… known about those kinds of men and women. It didn't matter. He couldn't let it.

"And you… have been Searched," Master Iruka smiled at him.

Neji shrugged out of the straps at last, thankful the numbweed was still at full strength, and slid off Hataketh. He steadied himself against the warm, solid shoulder for a second before snatching his hand back. He didn't dare offend Kakashi by touching the dragon more than necessary. The blue's gaze was on him now, sinuous neck twisting easily so that Hataketh regarded him with a slightly cocked head.

Self-conscious now, Neji smoothed away a frown before it could manifest fully and bowed. "Neji of Hyuuga, sir," he said calmly.

"Formerly," Kakashi added, strangely firm, and Neji glanced at him, seeing nothing but the same laconic attitude of earlier. When he looked back at the Candidatemaster, meeting his eyes properly for the first time, the man's expression was one of surprise and peculiar realization. Iruka's gaze moved to his bandana, and Neji felt tension coil painfully in his stomach.

If they sent him back… his stomach twisted further, cramping with nervous pain. His hands, in fists at his sides, tightened against the discomfort, but he didn't let the reaction go any further.

But the Candidatemaster only nodded, and gestured to the low building. "Follow me, Neji. I'll explain how things work here, and get you settled. We're surprisingly full just at the moment, but there is always a free bed for a candidate."

Kakashi appeared near him, holding out his backpack, which Neji took, numb with relief. He only peripherally noticed Hataketh taking off again, the wind of his departure whirling dust around them.

He was really here. At the Weyr.

* * *

The noise of the dining hall extended its cacophonic din well along the corridor down which Neji was following Master Iruka. Almost five hundred people called the Weyr home, Iruka had informed Neji, three hundred-odd of which were dragonriders. 

It was now the first evening meal, when those three hundred filled the tables, gathered by wing. "Midday meals and restday meals are quieter," Iruka had explained. Riders often ate in their weyrs, or took picnics outside during those times.

The candidates and weyrlings ate at the same time as riders, so Neji was being led to the table where he would eat meals for the indefinite future.

They turned the corner, and Neji was unprepared for the sudden increase in volume, and the sight of such a mass of people. Long tables packed with people of all kinds, their voices mingled with the clink and clatter of plates and cutlery, punctuated with the odd outburst of laughter or shouts.

There were twenty tables arranged in two rows of ten. Fifteen were fighting wings, and it was easy to spot them when Iruka pointed out how at the head of each sat the wingleader.

Neji looked carefully when Iruka pointed out the Queen's Wing table, one of the two nearest the kitchen. The gold queen dragons didn't breath fire, so the wing flew low-altitude, the goldriders burning away the Thread that got through the wings above with flamethrowers, and the support of a few permanent non-gold riders as well as all the newly graduated riders, those who had yet to be tapped into the other wings. Weyrwoman Tsunade headed that table, though all Neji could make out of her from his distance was the blond glint of her hair and the very ample curve of her chest that was somehow not so much motherly as imposing.

The Weyrleader headed the leading wing of the mid-altitude flight, and his mass of white hair was easily visible from where he sat at the other table closest to the kitchen.

The five tables not occupied by fighting wings were filled with candidates and weyrlings.

One table belonged to the Weyrling Wing, a support wing made of half-trained weyrlings that didn't fight Thread directly, but delivered sacks of firestone to the riders during Fall.

The last four, on the farthest end from the kitchen, were split between the unflighted weyrlings and the candidates. They were also the rowdiest, though not by much. Even the Weyrleaders' tables were loud. It was all completely opposite to the tense, quiet mealtimes the Branch had held together at Hyuuga.

Neji and Master Iruka skirted the edge of the room, passing the mid-altitude wings and finally reaching the candidate tables.

Iruka tapped the shoulder of one candidate, a chubby young girl with pigtails and spiral family tattoos, gesturing for her mug. To Neji's horror, he then banged on the table until he had the attention of all seated there, along with the second candidate table, and the adjacent weyrling table, to boot.

"Candidates, this is—"

"NEJI!!" came an overjoyed whoop from the near end of the second table. Neji had never, ever heard his name spoken in that tone. He turned abruptly to see the Kyuubi-marked boy stand up so quickly his chair clattered to the ground. His eyes were sparkling with glee and he wore a wide smile, for what reason Neji had no idea. He couldn't help his own eyes widening in surprise but he restrained himself beyond any further reaction. He realized he ought to acknowledge the greeting, so he nodded once, and somehow the grin got even wider at that.

"Yes, Naruto, thank you," Iruka said with a quelling but amused look toward the young man who stood bouncing on his heels. There was general laughter and a few cheers from various directions. "this is…"

Neji tuned out the rest of Iruka's introduction when his eyes fell on Hinata. She was watching calmly enough, having absorbed none of the rowdiness of the others, but she looked radiantly happy, shockingly so. She smiled at him shyly, face free, as ever, of any of the superiority or contempt the rest of her family had for him.

This time it didn't seem disingenuous, didn't set off a flood of fury, didn't raise his hackles and force him to regard her with defensive contempt. Rather, he felt unexpectedly relieved, and inclined his head to her in an abbreviated bow, suddenly uncertain. But she returned the gesture with a sincerity and honesty he'd never seen in the rest of their family.

And then Master Iruka touched his arm, and he forced himself stiff before he had time to flinch. "See me after the meal for your schedule," the Candidatemaster said, and waved him towards the table.

"Yes sir," Neji answered automatically.

"Here! Here!" Naruto had righted his chair and was beaming at him and motioning him over. The one to his left, at the end of the table, was empty, the place setting clean. Neji stared for a moment, then moved to the chair and sat, seeing no other nearby available seats.

"You're here, I can't _believe_ it," Naruto leaned near and whispered, face inches from Neji's. Neji jerked back at the violation of his personal space, and Naruto looked apologetic for a moment and drew back infinitesimally. "That's so great." He leaned away again, looking incomprehensibly pleased. The intensity of his joy was mind-boggling, and… terribly intrusive. What did he have invested in Neji's arrival?

Naruto tore a chunk of bread off a roll with his teeth and chewed, still regarding him happily. The people across from them and beyond Naruto took the opportunity to introduce themselves while Neji sat mute and stiff, overwhelmed by the noise and eagerness surrounding him. Nobody seemed to care about his lack of reaction. Perhaps they just thought he was shy.

"I'm Kiba, this is Akamaru!" a bronze firelizard perched on the end of someone's arm was thrust at him briefly.

"I am Lee! I'm overjoyed to meet you, Neji! I know we'll be the greatest of friends!" came from the boy who sat across from him, a round-eyed fellow with black hair in an unflattering bowl cut and completely green clothing.

"Helloooo, handsome!" wafted down the table from a girl with a blonde ponytail, titters echoed by a pink-haired girl next to her.

"Tenten," came the straightforward greeting from the girl next to Lee. Hair just as black, but in two small, neat buns. She just nodded at him and went on eating.

Naruto started telling him the names of the people farther down, while Lee tried to get a word in edgewise, asking about Neji's exercise habits, and the boy with the firelizard started making it do tricks.

"Hey! I forgot to ask, where'd Master Iruka squeeze you in?" Naruto interrupted himself, and at Neji's blank look, he added, "Uh, I mean, where's your room?"

The Candidatemaster had checked a ledger and nodded to himself before writing a room number on a scrap of paper. Neji repeated it to Naruto, and got a look of surprise that momentarily eclipsed the exuberance on his face.

"You're with me," he said, and his gaze turned aside, inward, with a flicker of something odd—relief?—before the enthusiasm of earlier returned. "It'll be _great_," he grinned, and then looked back at the mass of candidates. "Now, who was I—yeah! That's Shikamaru, don't worry, he always looks pissed off…"

Neji stared blankly down the table while Naruto's jabber filled his ears, drowning even the general din of the dining hall, grating on every nerve he had.

He had to share a room with this person.

He'd survived Hyuuga. He'd survived leaving it to come here.

But how was he supposed to survive this?

* * *

Mercifully, Naruto didn't chatter into the wee hours after lights out. He simply beamed at Neji from his bed against the opposite wall, said "good night!" with almost unbearable cheerfulness, and then covered the glowbasket on the long table between them, plunging the room into near-pitch darkness. 

Neji, still sitting up, heard Naruto flop down, mash his pillow, and that was all. He breathed a silent exhale of relief, and lay down on his side. He'd managed to put on more numbweed salve and new bandages while Naruto was at evening chores, so everything was blessedly numb. He started his own chore rotation tomorrow, but for now he enjoyed the quiet, pain-free darkness.

The bed was comfortable. Not luxurious by any means, but the mattress was better than his old one, and everything was clean. The linens and blankets smelled totally unfamiliar, though, none of the dusty, wood-resin scent of the cupboards that Hyuuga used to store its bedding. Just a light smell of herbal wool-grub repellent and soap.

He wondered how long it would take for him to stop feeling like he was pretending this would last. In the dark, it was easy to fly back over the past five days as though they hadn't happened, back to Hyuuga, back to Naota and Hanabi and Uncle and a future of absolutely nothing.

But then Naruto changed position, making his bed frame creak slightly and his blankets softly shift, and Neji was suddenly recalling previous hours instead of previous days. The astonishing noise of the dining hall, the sight of dragons in the bowl, smiling Hinata and ridiculously exuberant Naruto.

The future ahead of him was dauntingly full of possibilities now.

* * *

"Glorious morning, candidates, how are you all? Eaten well? Done some morning exercises? You are all in the most perfect flower of youth and should all be doing your best to live it to the fullest!" 

Neji blinked at the tall, green-clad man that was practically singing out his greeting as he approached them across the pale morning-lit weyrbowl. This was the wonderful Master Gai that Lee had been squealing about for the past half-hour?

He and Lee and Tenten were on the same chore rotation, which meant he'd had about a second of relief that Naruto was with that pink-haired girl until he'd remembered who the name "Lee" belonged to.

"Master Gai!!" Lee waved vigorously. "I did four crosses of the bowl this morning before breakfast!" Neji stared at Lee. The bowl was huge. At a jog he estimated crossing it lengthwise in about twenty minutes. Tenten caught his eye and gave him an understanding look steeped in amused resignation. He took that to mean that Lee's exercise schedule wasn't exactly standard. Lee himself apparently wasn't really standard either.

And Lee and Master Gai were… identical. Not… related, probably, given their features, but they both wore green from head to toe and had the same rather terrible haircut. Neji tried to decide if he should fear for his sanity.

The green garb didn't have anything to do with deviant—no, he had to stop thinking that way—with same-sex sexual preferences, though. Gai's rank knots were bronze, and bronze riders were supposed to prefer women. Or so Neji had understood. Gai's manner was a bit odd to classify him as conventionally straight.

Lee, though…

Neji banished the line of thought. That entire subject was irrelevant now anyway. Master Iruka had told him that candidates were prohibited from pursuing relationships because weyrlings had to devote themselves to their young dragons after impression, not other people, and that sexual activity would confuse and frighten a dragonet..

"That's excellent, beloved pupil of mine!" Gai was praising Lee. "Now, prove yourself by gathering many herbs this fine morning!"

Master Gai was in fact a weyrlingmaster, not a candidatemaster, only here because dragons were needed to ferry the chore groups that were herb-picking to the meadows outside the weyr, but it was plain that for both Gai and the weyrbred Lee, that distinction hardly mattered.

Neji hefted the large canvas bags that he'd been handed by the dragonhealers this morning. They each had two, and would be collecting medicinal plants all morning. Gai would be ferrying them to a wild field outside the Weyr for that purpose.

"Greetings, Neji!" Gai boomed at him, and Neji ducked in respectful acknowlegement, hoping that his impression of Master Gai's utter strangeness was properly buried. "I hear you've come in from Hyuuga, I hope you'll settle in to this wonderful Weyr of ours very soon."

"Thank you, sir," Neji replied, unable to come up with anything more appropriate, and Gai slapped his shoulder. Neji flinched inwardly, but the numbweed was still working.

"Oh, now, how will you ever experience the glory of youth if you're that formal!" Neji said nothing, unsure how to respond to that. Gai was looking at him with a deep frown.

Tenten rolled her eyes. "Master Gai, he's just arrived. Give him some time."

"Too right, too right, my dear," Gai agreed, making a complete about-face. He didn't seem to do anything by halves. "Settle in, young man, settle in, but then you must embrace the fine culture of this Weyr!"

"Yes, sir," Neji managed. Odd to see it so clearly, that really anyone at all could work to secure a place for themselves here, even someone as blustering as this strange man. People of rank at Hyuuga had no such… zest for life… as this man did.

_He's so… happy,_ Neji thought, incredulous. It was foreign. Everyone here was so… content. Well, not everyone, all the time, he'd seen people arguing at mealtime, seen a couple have a vicious whispered conversation in the hallway that led out to the latrines this morning, but overall… It wasn't normal. Where was the tension, the fear of higher ranks?

"Let's go! Last time I took candidates, they only filled a bag each, and I know you can do better than that. Two bags each!"

Two bags. Neji nodded.

Bronze Maith landed nearby, stirring up a cool breeze. The dragon was immense, longer and larger and bulkier than Kakashi's blue.

"Maith! You look so handsome this morning. Gai takes the best care of you, doesn't he?" Lee approached the dragon without hesitation. Neji forced himself forward only a few seconds later, and Tenten walked beside him.

"Don't worry, they're kind of frightening at first but you get used to them. I came from the big Healerhall off Konoha Hold so I'd seen a few before I was searched, but it still took a while to get used to seeing them up close."

Neji glanced over at Tenten, trying to work out why she was trying to converse with him.

"I'm not frightened," he answered curtly, and she frowned slightly, taken aback, shrugging and looking away. Neji gave himself a mental slap—he didn't want to anger anyone here. Apparently her conversation was some kind of pretension of empathy. "But he is only the second I've seen up close," he added, making his tone more neutral.

That seemed appropriate. She looked at him again and smiled. He made a vague head nod of acknowledgement and looked forward again towards the dragon. Lee was already mounted up.

Gai finished securing Lee's harness straps to Maith, and Tenten was the next up, and then Neji. Even after the lurch of takeoff, Lee didn't shut up, and neither did Gai, both bellowing back and forth to each other. Neji heard the odd laugh from Tenten.

He really didn't understand these people.

Neji made sure he had filled two bags by midday. Towards the end of the morning the numbweed started to wear away, but he pressed on through the growing discomfort. He couldn't show any weakness, and he ignored his two companions as much as he could.

Lee had gathered enough plants for a full bag and three quarters, and Tenten had one and a half, most likely because they didn't keep to the job and instead kept talking to each other.

When Gai returned to the meadow to ferry them back inside the Weyr, Neji's two full bags earned him another slap on the shoulder from that this time sent a wave of burning heat down his back. He hid the flinching recoil by bending down to yank another plant from the ground. He stuffed it into the bag before anyone could notice it looked nothing like the one they'd been collecting.

He barely listened to anything on the flight back, tuning out Lee's vehement assertions about doing pushups or some such nonsense to make up for not having gathered sufficient herbs.

They had to deliver the bags to the dragon infirmary, and then it was with a tightly clenched jaw that Neji made himself walk at a natural pace back to his and Naruto's room.

Gai had delivered them back to the Weyr exactly half an hour before midday meal, but other chore groups had finished early, and some were still finishing. The baths were half-ful and there would be a constant trickle of people until lunch.

But Naruto was just leaving their room when Neji arrived. He gave Neji a wide grin and waved his towel at him as he headed off to the baths, and needing it, from the smell. Naruto's chore group was shovelling dung or some such, but Neji was too relieved that their room would be empty to care about the offensive odour.

Neji only glanced at him and then went on into their room, shutting the door behind him. Alright, then. He'd have time if he did this fast. He pulled off his shirt and took a breath, slowly untying the knot that held the bandages around his torso. His wounds seeped and stuck to the bandages, and this was going to hurt.

It did. And when he had finished, he was almost out of numbweed salve. The few scrapings left on the inside of the jar settled a dread in his stomach at having to function without any relief after it was used up.

He didn't have time to waste on that now, however, and the lack of sensation was a vast relief as he headed to the dining hall. It bothered him that the wounds didn't seem to be healing, but he had to be imagining that. It took time after all, and he should be safe from discovery if he only kept his head. If the Weyr discovered his injury, they'd find him unsuitable. Insubordination bad enough to be beaten for was surely not something they would tolerate, and he couldn't leave here, not now.

"Neji," a soft, familiar voice reached his ears as he reached the candidates' table, low in the noise of lunch chatter, but he'd been trained all his life to know it, and turned to look at Hinata .

"Yes—" he caught himself in time and spoke only her name, free of any formal honorifics, "Hinata." Here they were supposed to be on even footing.

"W-would you sit next to me?" There was an empty seat by her, and she laid one hand on it. Beyond her sat Kiba, his bronze fire lizard on his shoulder nibbling on a small piece of meat, and then that other boy with the tinted glasses and high collar whose name escaped Neji. Both watched him.

"We don't bite," Kiba smirked.

He couldn't refuse, there was no appropriate excuse. "Yes. Certainly."

He'd never sat next to her before. Stood behind her, yes, but not this. He served himself in silence, finding himself surprisingly hungry now that he had food before him. He'd been too distracted by his wounds to think about food before, but the smells now made him ravenous.

Hinata didn't say anything, apparently content to have made him sit there. Whenever he looked at her she only smiled at him, and of all the people in the room, she was the only one he could be certain of, could know that each expression was what she really felt.

She'd never managed the mask that everyone else at Hyuuga wore. She was pathetically transparent. But now it was the only thing he could be sure of, even if the small smiles were expressions he didn't know what to do with.

Ironic, perhaps, that the only other person from his despised former home was the one who made him feel the least nervous.

Only towards the end of the meal did it occur to him that she might feel the same way. She was more like these weyrfolk than he was, but she still had grown up in the same place he had.

"Do you like it here?" he asked when they had almost finished eating, and surprised himself by actually wanting to know.

"Yes," she nodded, looking at first at her plate, then raising her gentle grey eyes to his. "Do you?"

They had the same eyes, and features that easily marked their blood relationship, but he knew his didn't soften like that.

Her question made him think. He'd asked without expecting the query to be turned back on him.

Did he like it?

"It's not Hyuuga," he replied, keeping his voice low.

"Well, y-yes, but… do you like it?" she asked again, and he frowned at her. She just waited.

Like it? This place unnerved and infuriated and confused him. People were strange and he couldn't understand them. But they all seemed to belong here, despite each person being completely different from the next, and even the oddest people he'd ever imagined could achieve great things.

But he shared his room with one of them, he shared the Weyr with all of them, and none of them were like Naota or Uncle and… no, Konoha Weyr was not like Hyuuga Hold, but it wasn't simply that it was different, it was the quality of the difference.

"Yes." He did like this place, and he almost didn't want to, because he couldn't be sure yet that he would be able to stay.

_Heal_, he ordered his body, swallowing a mouthful of meat that turned hard and choked him on the way down, _heal, before they find out and send me back. _


	5. Chapter 4 Trusting

**Chapter Four: Trusting**

Naruto often wished he had some apprenticeship specialty that would get him off the afternoon chore rotation, like most Searched candidates did, to work in a real craft. He did like doing most of the chores, but mucking out the dragon infirmary was just about the most unpleasant task in the Weyr. Dragons that couldn't move still had to eat, and if they had to eat they still had to… pass waste, as the dragonhealers said. And someone had to shovel that up and move it to the manure pile.

But things were looking up. He was done for the day at last, his coveralls and gloves in the dragon infirmary laundry bin, and he could wash the sweat and grime off and go to dinner.

He barged through the door to his room, remembering a little too late that he wasn't the sole occupant anymore, and indeed, there was Neji, sitting on the edge of his bed. Naruto grimaced and swung the door shut with a good deal less force. Neji so far seemed the type to get crabby when Naruto was too boisterous, so he was trying to move more quietly in their room. It had been many months since… he'd had a roommate, and his habits had changed, but even with Neji's stiff, guarded demeanour that bordered on unfriendly, he was glad to share the room again. Anything was better than being alone.

It had only been two days since Neji's arrival, though, and a little over seven since Naruto had even met him, so he wouldn't dare say they were friends. But maybe, he thought. If he could manage not to piss him off all the time. He was trying, anyway.

"Forgot, sorry, it's still weird to…" he trailed off when the sight before him registered fully. Face drawn and pale with obvious pain, Neji was holding the top of his half-unbuttoned shirt closed. Even so, there was a gap wide enough for Naruto to see bandages across Neji's torso, from waistband to collarbone. An empty jar lay on its side next to him, only the tiniest traces of yellowish numbweed salve left on the bottom.

"What happened to you?" Naruto gaped, shock sharpening to concern immediately.

"It's nothing," Neji replied tightly, "Just let me be."

The stiffness in his demeanour that Naruto had noticed over the past two days wasn't all Neji being snobby, then, was it? He was hurt. And if he'd been using the yellow salve that fought infection, those bandages were covering some kind of open wound. "You need a healer," he began, "I can go get—"

"No." Neji's voice was curt, and audibly strained, "It's not serious."

"You look like you're about to pass out," Naruto retorted, and stepped forward to lean closer, looking for the signs of infection he knew from infirmary training. Neji started to recoil but stopped short, face tightening in pain at the slight movement. Naruto rested the back of his fingers lightly against Neji's cheek, seeing that it made those grey eyes widen in surprise and apparent confusion. They were clear and responsive, not glazed at all. The skin didn't feel particularly warm, not that Naruto had had any previous contact to compare with. "I guess you didn't give yourself a fever," he withdrew his hand and stood back, "yet," he added, frowning. Neji looked bewildered and wary as Naruto turned to his own side of the room.

Starting to gather the clothing he was going to change into, he glanced back at Neji, "Fine, you don't wanna healer, I won't tell, but then you _got _to come to the pool with me and clean…whatever it is… properly. There's a kit there with numbweed and stuff."

Turning back to Neji, bundle in hand, he was met with a perplexed stare that darkened to apprehensive, resentful frustration. Naruto hadn't meant to cause that reaction, but then some people didn't like to be interfered with. Too bad. Naruto couldn't _not _interfere, not when it was something that was hurting a person, and anyway if this stopped Neji from getting some horrible fever, then he could live with the glares.

Neji clenched his jaw and nodded after another few moments, and stood up with visible difficulty. Whatever his injury, it seemed to have gotten to the point that any movement at all was painful, and Naruto was amazed that he'd kept something so severe hidden till now. Neji must have been taking care of everything quietly on his own, these past two days. Frowning with worry, Naruto opened the door and let Neji precede him into the hall.

The baths weren't far, and no one else met them on the way. That was lucky, because the short walk was difficult enough without trying to get past anyone's curious inquiries. Neji's pain was audible in his breathing by the time they reached to door to one of the smaller bathing rooms. Naruto turned the sign on the door to "Full" and followed Neji inside, pulling his boots off and drawing the latch.

Steam rose off the roughly rectangular pool that was sunk into the floor at the far side of the room, the slightly sulphurous scent of the hot spring that supplied it a familiar comfort. Six or seven people could bathe comfortably here without getting in each other's way. The stone floor had enough roughness not to get too slippery, except in the most commonly-trod areas, where generations of feet had worn the floor smooth. One wall inside the door was lined with hooks and cubbies, the other with shelves stocked with clean towels and low stools tucked underneath.

Naruto pulled the healing kit from the small, air-tight cupboard underneath the shelves and dragged a stool out to set it on. Neji had gone a few paces farther into the room, and stopped, staring at the opposite wall. He still stood, perfectly straight, like he didn't dare to so much as twitch. Naruto undid his belt, yanked his tunic over his head, and pulled his pants off, but his hands slowed their cramming of the cloth into the cubby when he glanced over his shoulder to see that Neji hadn't shifted an inch.

He watched him for a second, and then said, "I've taken the basic healing lessons. Let me look at it." There was a long silence before Neji let out a resigned breath, followed by an short uncomfortable nod.

"Right," Naruto muttered, "we're getting somewhere." He tied a towel around his waist. Moving in front of Neji, he glanced up at his face, a little unnerved when the strained, hostile gaze slid away from his. Neji avoiding anyone's stare seemed so at odds with the calm pride he'd thus far maintained. He didn't avoid people's eyes. He might (and did, Naruto had already experienced it) turn his gaze away as a pointed 'I'm ignoring you' gesture, but not this.

Naruto didn't buckle under people's gazes either, but then, he was always looking for attention—though he'd spent the past year still being surprised whenever someone offered sincere interest or concern.

Neji, though, didn't seem to either expect attention or seek it. He'd set to his assigned chores with punctuality and solemn attention, he'd maintained unfaultable politeness to everyone, and very proper respect to their superiors… and yet didn't seem to expect the same in return. Naruto kept seeing a reaction he recognized from himself—surprise—whenever Lee waved at Neji from across a room, or Naruto greeted him when they passed each other.

Life at Hyuuga, Naruto kept having to remind himself. Neji had barely been seen as a person at all there. The whole Branch was the silent, invisible servant of the Main.

So Naruto was willing to bet Neji didn't expect care or concern, either. If anything, Neji looked right now like he was waiting for the other shoe to drop, as though Naruto's worry was some kind of pretense.

Yeah, Neji'd only been here a couple of days, but he was a fellow candidate, he was Naruto's roommate, and Naruto just plain liked him. Despite his fucked-up family, he had dignity, and so much courage to have left it all behind.

And stubbornness. _Idiot,_ Naruto thought in frustration, _what halfwit endures pain like this and won't see a healer?_

Carefully unbuttoning the shirt, he could see Neji's bandage-swathed chest rising and falling in shallow jerks, his neck muscles tight, tensed from enduring whatever those wrappings hid. He carefully lifted the shirt up and slid it back over Neji's shoulders, mouth twisting with a grimace when he realized the bandages continued down his right arm, over his wrist, and around his hand. So those wrappings weren't just decorative, like the ones Chouji and Lee often wore.

Neji's hand. Naruto remembered, suddenly, Neji hiding his hand behind his back, that morning when the candidates had left Hyuuga. His stiff walk, as he'd turned back inside the Hold. The hostility of the one who'd ordered Neji back inside a few hours before.

"This… has been like this since before I left Hyuuga," Naruto said, looking up at Neji's face and fighting down the anger heating in his belly.

Now, a whipping as punishment wasn't unheard of in Konoha Hold or Weyr. C_hildren _got the switch or the strap across their rears from time to time… but not anyone over the age of _seven_. And the discipline often stung, but it certainly wasn't supposed to cause hurt requiring healer care. Naruto had certainly been swatted often enough as a child to know that. People had ignored him, avoided him, but no one had ever actually injured him, even when he'd made a nuisance of himself and _earned _a good whack.

Neji remained silent and didn't meet his eyes, staring fixedly at the wall. Naruto shook himself slightly. Task at hand, he reminded himself. "Do you wanna sit down while I take these off?" He asked, stepping away to reach for one of the wooden stools by the wall.

Neji sat, but only after he brought his uninjured hand to his belt, and worked the tooled leather from the buckle. Naruto had already noticed that the bandages continued below the waist, but he couldn't stop his exhalation of ire as he realized they went even further. Neji eased the sturdy work trousers down over his hip, and then let them fall, the softer fabric of his shorts hiding where still more bandages circled down the length of Neji's right leg.

"What—?" Naruto closed his mouth with a click of teeth, biting off his obvious and useless question. Neji's expression was stony, the intense discomfort and a dull flush of shame all that Naruto could read, and he could feel that his own expression had gone dark.

He waited while Neji perched carefully on the stool, then sat behind him on a stool of his own, teeth clenching, fury redoubling as he faced the streaks of red that had soaked through the cloth on Neji's back. Naruto picked briefly at the knot before shaking his head and taking the scissors from the kit and simply cutting it away instead, dropping the scissors into the box with a discordant clatter when it was off.

Neji started slightly at the noise, and spoke as if jolted into it. "You don't need to risk yourself for this." The wariness was full-blown now, and Neji's entire body had gone rigid again.

"What?" Naruto snapped, confused, his voice sharper than he'd intended. He looked up from where he'd begun to lift away the cut edge of the first loop of bandage.

"I risk punishment by hiding this. You'll now be at risk as well." He was starting to sound resentful.

"What are you talking about?" Naruto got up and stepped around to glare at Neji to his face, incredulous. "No one's going to punish anyone. Master Iruka will sure lecture you good if you end up keeling over in training, maybe, but he'll be mad for making him worry," he growled.

The look on Neji's pain-tightened face was one of sceptical surprise and disbelief, one that Naruto recognized quite well. He'd felt that himself about a year ago. "That's all. Worry," Neji repeated flatly, a thread of sarcasm just audible.

"Yeah. Worry," Naruto heard himself state the fact like a challenge. Neji was unmoved, eyes narrowed with resentment.

"And yet earlier you forced me to let you bring me here, or you would get a healer."

Naruto blinked, then thought he was starting to understand. "Wait, then, you think I did that to cover my own ass? 'Cause _I'd _be in trouble if _you _got found out?" Neji didn't nod, merely giving Naruto an glare of utter incredulity, as though he thought Naruto was pretending ignorance. Naruto felt his own expression shifting to match.

"I won't get in trouble, this is your dumb idea to keep it to yourself. And I wouldn't care if I did anyway. So shut up, you need some healing. And," he snarled, to make himself clear, "I'm angry 'cause it looks like those fuckers at Hyuuga worked you over," he caught the flicker of acknowledgement in Neji's eyes that confirmed his guess, "_not _'cause I'm worried about Master Iruka coming down on me. _Or_ on you, get it?" There was that disbelieving look again.

Naruto blew out his breath and tried to calm down. It took a few moments. "Look, this shit doesn't happen here. A spanking, maybe, with the littles, or a few whacks with a switch for the brats who won't understand anything but gettin' embarrassed… Not…" he choked on his renewed fury, and waved a hand up and down Neji's body, "I mean… if you're looking for punishment, the worst you get here is latrine cleanup."

"Then, what is it you _want_?" Neji demanded. He seemed confused, now, and angry. Naruto blinked at the odd question.

"Want? What?" _Smile? Relax? Loosen up? _"How about I want you to not die of blood fever?" Naruto offered a little sarcastically, feeling that he was pointing out the obvious. But it seemed to be required. Was this whole 'help' concept really that hard to grasp? "Just… stand still so I can do this."

Neji's expression, aimed once again at a place beyond Naruto's shoulder, was hostile and suspicious, and oddly resigned.

Still frowning, Naruto moved behind Neji again, gathering the long, smooth mass of his hair and sliding over forward over his shoulder and out of the way, and began testing the strips of cloth covering his back. Though the previous application of numbweed had long been absorbed, there was enough salve residue that the bandages almost all came away without sticking. Naruto peeled back and cut the dirty strips to discard them, swallowing back a reflexive noise of disgust as the first long, infected wound was uncovered. The skin at each edge was red and inflamed, and the areas that had partially scabbed over seeped yellowish fluid.

"How did you fuckin' get through the day," he muttered, horrified, as swathes of mottled bruising were also revealed, crisscrossed by raw seeping stripes that hadn't quite broken the skin, and two more long, blood-crusted slashes. And there was something like a burn running down Neji's left arm and side. Naruto's next cursing exclamation got no answer, and he hadn't really expected one. Neji's breathing was still shallow as he tried to stretch his skin as little as possible.

Naruto cut the last lengths from Neji's torso wrappings, then moved around to kneel in front of him. He tugged at Neji's shorts without thinking, needing to get at the wrappings up his thigh. Neji's hand grabbed his wrist and he had a pang of belated apology when he glanced up to see an affronted glare coloured by a self-conscious flush.

"Uh, sorry. Shuck'em, please." Bad idea to try and undress the new guy, really, he chastised himself. Neji glared at him a few seconds longer before Naruto considered that he might actually be shy, not just angry. It was really not surprising to see that nudity in the bathing room was something to be shy about at Hyuuga. But this wasn't Hyuuga, and Neji, after a few more seconds, slid the underwear off and got back to glaring at the wall, pale face still suffused with blood of mingled anger and, Naruto supposed, shame.

Naruto realized his detachment at this point with a bit of surprise. Neji was naked, and his mind hadn't even bothered going anywhere interesting. Then again, it was hard to want to ogle someone when they were in such obvious pain and really messed up with anger and embarrassment to boot.

The patches and lines of burn on Neji's leg were similar to the ones on his arm, and it looked like it had splashed onto him, and then dripped down. Something liquid, then. Naruto eyed the widest leg burn, high on Neji's thigh. A few inches over and… Naruto winced inwardly. He stood back when he'd peeled off the last bit of bandage from Neji's ankle, and waved at the pool. "Wash."

Bathing was a silent affair. Naruto scrubbed himself clean, taking care to stay in the part of the pool where the spring's light current would keep any grime he washed off away from Neji. He refrained from splashing or ducking or making any large waves in the warm, waist-deep water, not that the mood was at all conducive to horsing around.

Neji managed to wash well enough, even his hair, mostly one-handed. Naruto kept from butting in to help with difficulty, but Neji was also able to clean the burns on his arm and leg easily enough on his own. It was when he tried to reach back behind himself that motion forced a grunt of pain out of him, and Naruto waded across the pool to take the soap from him. Neji surrendered it, if unwillingly. At this point, though, the anger it seemed almost like a resigned sulk, and Naruto smiled a little. That kind of reaction felt like an improvement over the hostile suspicion from before.

Neji stood stiffly as Naruto wielded the soap, holding onto the rim of the pool with one white-knuckled hand while Naruto carefully but thoroughly cleaned out the infected slashes, mercilessly reopening and draining what was swollen with yellow fluid. Neji bore it all, including the stinging soap, with near silence, only the worst spots pulling a sound of pain or a flinch. "Out," Naruto directed at last. "We'll let it dry a bit, and then I'll get the numbweed on."

The relief the fresh numbweed salve brought was obvious, and drew a quiet but fervent sigh. Naruto smiled a little smugly at the sound as he spread the ointment. There was plenty and he used it generously. The wounds were clean now, and the salve would keep them soothed and painless while they healed safely under fresh clean wrappings. He handed the pot to Neji, letting him tend his own arm while Naruto took care of the burns on his leg. "We need to do this again before lights-out," he said as he dabbed salve onto the last raw patch at Neji's ankle. "We can't use this all up. I have a little kit, and I'll ask for a new pot of numbweed—don't worry, I'll just say mine ran out," he added dryly before Neji could protest about healer involvement. "Alright?"

Anchoring the end of a fresh bandage with one finger, he began wrapping, keeping the tension steady as he went. He looked up when Neji failed to reply. His eyes were confused, staring down at Naruto in uncomprehending frustration .

"What do you _want _from me?" Neji repeated his question from before, so at a loss he was almost begging, and again, Naruto couldn't figure out what Neji was after.

"I don't—nothing." He imagined, suddenly, all the Hyuuga Branch members jostling for dominance and advantage, currying favour and plotting, like nobles did in a harper's story. But what that had to do with healing wounds, he wasn't really sure. Would a dominance struggle even take advantage of painful injury? Well… Naruto remembered the man who'd retrieved Neji from the Hyuuga courtyard.

He shook his head. "How about 'thanks'," he said, and looked up, eyebrows raised. Had Neji expected blackmail? Well, he would just have to go without it.

Not that people didn't owe favours here, but that was for everyday stuff. It wasn't supposed to incur dire debts or leverage or whatever Neji was used to. Naruto would just keep being decent to him until he got that into his mind permanently. It'd take time but Naruto was nothing if not persistent.

Now the painkiller had done its job, and Neji was gathering his composure again. The penetrating grey gaze bore down on Naruto, the heightened emotion flattening away, and Naruto felt like he was being re-evaluated, somewhat reluctantly. Now that the pain was neutralized, Neji's even keel was well re-established and the probing stare was steady. "Thank you," Neji answered at last. It wasn't very sincere, but it was something. Naruto blinked, and returned to his careful bandaging.

"Great. Let's do this on time from now on, huh? It'll heal up faster that way," he said absently.

There was something about Neji that was subtly altered when they left the bathing room, aside from the absence of pain. A kind of uncertainty that Naruto hoped would be a chink in the suspicious shell around him. The wariness was still there, Neji wasn't about to start hugging everyone and sharing his deepest secrets, but… _Yeah_, Naruto thought, _people here are generally decent. They can be friendly. They can care if you get hurt. You'll get used to it. _

They were late for evening meal in the end, but managed to gather full plates before the platters were emptied. They weren't the only latecomers, either, for which he was glad. It saved him having to come up with some explanation for the tardiness.

Kiba and Lee, among others, were still at the table when they sat down, and Naruto was quickly drawn into raucous conversation as often happened. Still, now that he knew what was hidden under Neji's long-sleeved tunic, he found himself constantly aware of him, and so could feel the grey gaze when it came to rest on him, speculative, throughout their meal.

* * *

Iruka was having a hard time believing it, but the indications kept coming; it appeared that Naruto and Neji had begun a physical relationship of some kind.

It wasn't something Iruka had expected at all when he'd assigned the escaped Branch Hyuuga to Naruto's room, but now his suspicions were mounting and he'd begun to doubt the wisdom of his decision. The pair kept being late to meals together. Twice in the past four days other candidates had complained of being refused entry to a latched bathing room, despite being certain only Naruto and Neji had entered it. Both had also frequently been noticed in a hurry back to their room after chores.

As for the pair themselves… Naruto had developed a watchful and devoted attachment to his new roommate that went beyond his usual gregarious personality, always choosing to stick close by the proud, serious, former Hyuuga whenever possible, at least from what Iruka had been able to observe. It was the first time he'd seen Naruto so interested in someone since Sasuke had vanished.

This bore none of the rivalry of that ill-fated (and had it been one-sided?) friendship, but the fascination was certainly there. For his part, Neji's extreme reserve seemed slightly less severe when he interacted with Naruto, and while Iruka had observed him often looking annoyed or put-upon by the energetic candidate, he remained very tolerant of Naruto's presence where he avoided others, and… Iruka wouldn't use the term "happy" to describe Neji, but he seemed… almost comfortable when he was with Naruto, more so than any of the other candidates, though Lee and Tenten seemed to be earning some of that tolerance as well, for which Iruka was grateful. Gai had commented that Neji was frighteningly concentrated on his chores, surpassing Lee in completing them, but that he seemed to lack any of Lee's pride in his accomplishments.

As for whatever was going on with Naruto… Their manner of interaction didn't seem like it could possibly be a romantic relationship. Neji accepted Naruto's presence, but he didn't really seem to _like _him, exactly… but then enforcing celibacy sometime drove people into unusual situations, especially among teenagers, and the evidence was compelling enough to address.

Now both candidates sat, Naruto looking perplexed, Neji stiff and uneasy, on the other side of his desk.

"Boys, both of you know the rules of this Weyr, and the conditions attached to your candidacy, correct?"

"Yeah, Master Iruka," Naruto answered, mildly curious at the apparently unexpected question

"Neji?"

"Yes, sir," but he'd had visibly tensed at the query, and what colour there was in his pale complexion was draining away.

"S'alright, Neji, I swear," Naruto was looking at his roommate with concern, gaze flicking to Iruka and back to Neji with a reassuring smile, "Whatever it is, it's alright."

"You have no idea why I've asked you here?" Iruka continued, wondering if they'd simply admit it.

"Nope," Naruto replied distractedly, his attention more on the increasingly apprehensive-looking Neji.

"Naruto," Iruka said sharply, and the blue gaze snapped to his, now concerned and confused, but not guilty or evasive in any way.

"Boys, the behaviour you two have been exhibiting over the past few days is suspicious, in regards to one of the most important rules of candidacy." More confusion from Naruto, and sharp, angry wariness from Neji, as the latter seemed to be trying to draw up the list of rules from memory. Naruto's gaze too, turned inward, as he seemed to be searching his own recall.

"I'm going to ask you bluntly, and I expect an honest response," Naruto's eyes widened suddenly as Iruka spoke, and amusement flashed in his eyes.

"No, Master Iruka, Neji and I are not currently having sex," he forestalled, biting back a snigger.

Iruka blinked, Neji choked, and the colour returned to his face fourfold, flushing his cheeks. Grey eyes wide, his incredulous stare darted back and forth between Iruka and Naruto.

"Wh—what?" Neji seemed astonished at the words, and then quietly but totally horrified by the notion.

Green boys and blue girls, as common Weyr parlance termed those who preferred their own gender, regardless of whether they rode a dragon of any colour or not, were not welcome at Hyuuga, Iruka knew that. And those prevailing views on the subject were not something Neji had left behind at his former home, Iruka had guessed right away.

Neji became visibly discomfited when he realized he was near someone green or blue, Iruka had spotted that the second he'd introduced himself to Neji on his arrival. But there was hope for him, Iruka had been pleased to see. Neji never demonstrated even an inkling of poor manners towards Iruka himself or anyone else. He did show some forgivable stiltedness at times, but that was all. He was trying, and that was good enough—weyrbred people were used to some holdbred people taking time to get used to life here, and generally took it in stride as long as no purposeful offence was given.

Still, 'getting used to it' didn't mean Neji would accept any implication of that kind of preference when it came to himself.

Ah well. Neji's reaction and Naruto's amusement left Iruka quite reassured that they hadn't been doing anything of a sexual nature, but that left the odd behaviour to be explained.

"'Cause we've been sneaking around and stuff," Naruto was saying to Neji, "and those times I didn't let Shikamaru and Chouji into the baths. Right, Master?"

Iruka nodded. "Well, yes. I appreciate the prescient reply, but can you give me an explanation for what _is_ going on?"

"Uh…" Naruto looked sideways at Neji, his face briefly showing sadness at the expression of utter distaste that Neji still wore. Iruka felt a sympathetic ache. Not everyone at the Harper Hall had been thrilled with his Impression of Umith back years ago. But the unease at the current situation quickly reasserted itself on Naruto's face. "It's not…" he trailed off. Meanwhile, Neji was once again angrily tense. "I'm, um, just helping him with a personal problem," Naruto said, unusually circumspect.

"May I ask what?" Iruka prodded. Neji's mouth was a flat line. "Neji, if you have a problem, I'm glad you felt you were able to turn to Naruto for help," his mouth twisted a bit at that, Iruka noted curiously, "but you should know the staff are here to take care of candidates and weyrlings, and it's to avoid misunderstandings like today's that you should avail yourself of us instead."

"Master, he's really much better now anyway, " Naruto reassured. Iruka looked back at Neji. Better?

"Neji, have you been ill?" he asked. Neji shook his head, a single jerk back and forth, chin up, eyes averted. "If there's something affecting your health, you must not keep it secret," he said gravely. Injury or illness hidden due to embarrassment or pride could end up getting dangerous when not handled by a real healer. "The consequences can be quite severe."

At that, Neji's eyes went completely flat, chilled with disappointment and resignation. He glanced at Naruto, furious hurt burning through his cold expression before he suppressed it. Naruto looked startled, then winced and shook his head at Iruka.

Neji seemed to steel himself, then stood abruptly and spoke.

"Punishment should be mine alone. I did not intend to involve anyone in this concealment," he said, and Iruka stared for a second in surprise, and then finally understood all the tension, feeling moronic for not having realized earlier. He should have been rather more conscious of just where Neji was from. 'Severe consequences' didn't mean the same thing to both of them, that was clear.

"Sit down, Neji," he said firmly, "That wasn't a threat, and I don't plan to punish you. I do, however, want to make sure you're in good health." Neji stared, clearly not believing him, while Naruto wore an ironic half-smile.

"I told you," he said with a shrug. "It's alright."

Neji looked like a trapped animal that had just been released from a long stay in a small cage. He stared at Iruka like he hadn't a clue where to go from here, or why things had suddenly changed. He seemed to expect to be shoved back inside at any moment.

"Naruto, can I speak to Neji alone, please? You may go on to chores."

Reluctantly, Naruto rose and left the office, casting a worried look at Neji as he closed the door behind him. Neji watched him go, the hurt flickering over his face once again, and the expectant tension in the room rose exponentially. Iruka sighed inwardly. Ingrained reactions would take some time to fade.

"Neji, please sit."

Neji sat, hands tightening on his trouser legs, eyes on some point past Iruka's shoulder. He seemed to be trying to sit up straight, but his shoulders drew inward and hunched slightly.

"Listen. First of all, as a candidate, the worst punishment you could be given for breaking the rules is a long tour on latrine duty. Well, assuming an offender hasn't been grossly violating the laws of this Weyr," he hedged for thoroughness' sake, "that's as far as it goes. And while I know the rules and penalties were outlined for you when you arrived, it doesn't seem like that's what you were expecting. However, those rules are indeed the ones we work by." Neji once again looked skeptical and wary. "Is that clear?" Iruka asked gently.

"Yes sir," Neji replied. He heard the words, Iruka knew, but he didn't believe them yet. That would change, Iruka was sure. Hopefully sooner rather than later. Hailing from Hyuuga, Neji was habituated to following a chain of command, which would end up useful to him as a dragonrider. What he lacked was trust. However, even for the weyrbred candidates, that was still a cultivated trait when it came time to fly in a wing. For Neji, Iruka expected, it would just take more time to grow, and he'd have ample time to settle into the stability of Weyr life before he ever flew in threadfall.

"Secondly," Iruka went on, "you haven't broken any rules." Neji didn't relax, and Iruka hadn't really expected him to. He added, on instinct, "Neji, look at me," and when the grey eyes met his, he said, "we're not going to send you back."

Neji rocked back in his chair at that, and his entire bearing sagged from rigidly wary to completely exhausted. Iruka felt a deep pang of guilt for not having made it clear from the start that Neji lived here now. If he left, it would be his choice.

Iruka continued. "Whatever injury or ailment you decided to hide, it seems you tried to deal with yourself." Neji braced himself, and Iruka sighed inwardly. Small steps. "This is discouraged. We need healthy riders, and we have healers to keep them that way. Now, listen to me. Asking for healing is expected of anyone at this Weyr. Injuries are not punished, they are treated." How did you get that across to someone who was used to the established order being the one to hurt him in the first place?

Neji's jaw worked subtly, his expression still shuttered.

"If weyrfolk aren't healthy, happy and comfortable, Neji, they don't fulfill their duties effectively," he said earnestly.

A dark look then, but directed elsewhere. Towards his old home, Iruka expected.

"In addition, all the healers are bound by rules of confidentiality, as are the weyrlingstaff. Don't be ashamed, embarrassed or afraid to see one of us about anything." Iruka knew that would take a while to sink in. But unexpectedly, Neji spoke.

"I was punished the day before I left Hyuuga," he said in a low voice. "It hasn't healed completely yet." Iruka kept his face relaxed with a great effort. "I thought I would be able to hide it until then."

"I see. And Naruto was helping you?"

Neji snorted slightly at that, and a twitch of his lips formed an ironic shape. "He wouldn't let me refuse."

Privately, Iruka experienced a moment of loving pride for the guilelessly proactive former troublemaker. Mention of Naruto's name relaxed some of the stiffness that had returned with Neji's confession, Iruka noted with interest. Trust had to start somewhere, and if Neji chose to begin with Naruto, he wouldn't be disappointed.

Aloud, he said, "Yes, that's Naruto for you. However, while I know that you've been performing your chores as expected—I must praise your endurance—he isn't a professional healer, and might miss important signs of trouble."

Neji nodded slowly. "I understand."

"I want you to go to the infirmary now, and be examined. Will I need to show you the way?"

"No, sir."

"Very good. In the future, Neji, please ask for help." he finished gently. "Now, the infirmary."

"Yes, sir." Neji rose and bowed politely.

Iruka watched the door close behind the cold, proud young man, and hoped Naruto's companionship was what he needed to get used to the idea of trust. And, given Naruto's obvious attachment, he hoped Neji might come to return the affection as well. Naruto now got along as he should with all the candidates now, and had a good-sized group of pals, but Iruka knew the space Sasuke had vacated remained empty.

* * *

It was an awkwardness Neji had never felt, having to approach a healer for himself. At Hyuuga he'd managed on his own, and that had been a point of pride and a necessity. But in this case keeping it to himself had become a kind of cowardice, such a turnabout of circumstances, just like everything else at the Weyr.

He was braced reflexively for the mocking derision Hyuuga's sour old healer always had for the Branch. But no, none of that here. The healer on duty, a serious-looking man in a white healer's tunic, only nodded, meeting Neji's stone-faced, stilted request with an easygoing, businesslike manner.

"Ah, you're the new candidate. Neji, is it? I'm journeyman healer Iyashi, and I would say pleased to meet you, but if you've come here then it's not the best of circumstances," Iyashi made a slightly ironic face. Neji blinked at the easygoing manner, and nodded.

Iyashi only hmmed and nodded when Neji described his injury, though not its provenance, then rose to lead Neji to an exam alcove, drawing the privacy curtain.

Iyashi didn't chatter, didn't pry, only worked, asking relevant but non-invasive questions, and was matter-of-fact about the entire process, as though it was all perfectly ordinary, easing Neji's churning insides by the sheer force of his calm.

As Iyashi's hands, lighter and palpably more skilled than Naruto's, and far more detached, gently worked on Neji's wounds, Neji felt himself relaxing despite himself. Maybe it was just exhaustion. After the horror he'd felt in Master Iruka's office when he'd expected the worst, the long walk to the infirmary had been difficult, his confusion turning more into apprehension with every step. Maybe his emotions were just used up.

Freed from them for a little while, his mind wandered over his new situation.

He was in the infirmary getting seen to by a competent healer who didn't care where he came from, who was just interested in tending his wounds.

He shared a room with the loudest person he'd ever met. A person who cared about him, for no reason but that they had had some vague parallels in their lives till now. Cared about his health and his comfort and his happiness.

He lived at the Weyr, where the community was a chaotic, loud, dynamic one, not perfect but not stagnant and laced tight with mistrust. Master Iruka cared about his charges, Neji was starting to believe, because that was what Master Iruka did. His nature had led him to his vocation. Not a weakness, but a path. People here seemed to end up doing what they were good at, not what they were forced to do.

Well, Neji had to admit he didn't think he was _that _good at cleaning the dung up in the dragon infirmary, and he certainly didn't enjoy that new chore rotation. He felt himself smile slightly in mild amusement. The chores were a means to an end, not a life sentence—he would have his chance to do more, here.

And Neji had never doubted his own skills. He didn't need anyone to tell him he'd be a good dragonrider. He'd had no fears about being able to learn whatever weyrling training would throw at him, whether it was shovelling dung or gathering herbs or someday learning to fly in formation.

But having people tell him that others would support him throughout, that he wasn't supposed to fight past difficulty or injury alone… That was the part that was just... alien.

"This'll be cool, now," came a warning, and Neji sucked in a breath as cold salve was smoothed gently over his back. Iyashi murmured, apologetically. "Sorry, but it works best chilled. It'll soothe the swelled areas more quickly this way."

Here he was letting a stranger apply who-knew-what to his open wounds. This stranger who cared, in some small way, that he should be healthy, and not in pain, had enough incidental kindness to apologize for cold salve on his sensitive back.

There were alliances at Hyuuga, politics led to individuals joining up or feuding, helping or sabotaging, as they jockeyed for favour in the Lord's eyes. But there wasn't trust that would ever allow this.

Iyashi was miles away from the man who was Lord Hyuuga's healer, at his beck and call, and whom no Branch would ever approach for anything short of immediate and life-threatening injury, lest the old bastard be bribed into slipping something extra into whatever salve or tea he might offer.

Both had taken the same craft, learned to restore and maintain health in their fellows. And still the differences in their ways as vast as those between their homes.

Neji obediently shifted and turned and raised his arm and leg when asked as Iyashi wrapped him once again in bandages. The wrappings were uniform and comfortable, and Neji conceded Master Iruka's point, almost reluctantly—Naruto was not a healer, for all his sincere worry. But Neji found, despite the greatly improved comfort, that he didn't regret any of Naruto's meddlesome concern.

"And that… should… do it," Iyashi gave the bandages a last check. "That will be fine until tomorrow." Further instructions were given for when he should return, and when to take drops from the small bottle of fellis juice he was handed, and then it was over. Iyashi waved a goodbye with a mild smile, and Neji left the infirmary.

He took the exit out to the bowl, standing under the midday sun.

All those people around him, he was supposed to trust, depend on. Could he?

Already, it wasn't so terrible, having to come back to the infirmary again. It wasn't ridiculous, the idea that Master Iruka actually wanted him to stay here, wasn't looking for an excuse to punish him or force him out.

Most of all… it wasn't so unbearable, sharing quarters with someone who seemed to want to be… his friend. Neji held that concept in his mind, turning it over and over, trying to transform what until now had been an abstract concept into something he could actually understand.

He thought he was getting closer.


	6. Chapter 5 Reaching

**Chapter Five: Reaching**

Night shift was perfectly miserable at this time of year, Neji thought, still holding his heavy cloak closed as he walked quietly through the dimly-lit hall towards his and Naruto's room. Late winter at Konoha didn't bring snow, and spring was very near, but it was still frigid whenever the sun went down.

The fourth night of this chore rotation and he was well and truly sick of shuddering across the bowl from the infirmary. He didn't mind the duty—that was tolerable, and he enjoyed the company of Lee and Tenten—but the trip back in the dark was cold and windy. He could have stayed inside, using the halls around the bowl, but it was easily twice as long, and his bed was calling. At least tonight it wasn't raining as it had been the past two days. The sky was clear, stars bright.

Still, he felt fortunate to have been freed early this night. The infirmary was unusually empty, following a tremendously lucky week of 'falls, and he was released from his duties, the healers on duty not requiring extra bodies for the few patients in residence, and it was only a couple of hours after midnight.

The long walks across the bowl were routine now (though not the night-time ones). Four months here at Konoha Weyr, his flayed back and burned limbs now well healed, and he now thought of this place, and of his and Naruto's room, as "home." He no longer blinked at the mass of noise that was the midday dining hall. He had let himself start to become a part of the Weyr.

He reached the door of their room with anticipatory relief, and opened it quietly with one hand while he unhooked the fastenings of his cloak with the other.

He swung the cloak off and over his arm as he slid into the room, but halted abruptly when the sounds of shifting cloth and ragged, heavy breathing reached his ears. He felt his face heat. Perhaps he should have knocked, Naruto hadn't been expecting him back until near dawn, and now it sounded like he was… the mental image was immediate: _Naruto sweaty and shifting rhythmically among tangled sheets, one hand sliding below his waist—_Neji was transfixed for long seconds, warmth rising through him, until disgust and apprehension welled violently up and he bit down hard on the inside of his cheek. His face felt as though it had caught fire.

To his horror, he still felt heat gathering elsewhere, lower, He was about to back out of the room, stomach knotted with disgusted shame at his mind's perverted invention, but he couldn't stop himself, and he turned just enough to see out of the corner of his eye.

Naruto, as was usual since Neji had begun the night shift chore rotation, had fallen asleep with the glowbasket half open, so Neji would be able to see when he got back. Now the dim yellow light was more than enough to see Naruto shifting in the painful clutches of a nightmare, and not self-pleasure. It was not what he had expected, and the shame fell away in favour of worry and an ambivalent mixture of both relief and something that Neji refused to believe was disappointment..

The covers were a mess, half off the bed and shifted sideways. One of Naruto's fists was fastened around a thick fold, a swath of cover pulled across his stomach, leaving his bare arms and legs exposed. He was moving in feeble struggles against nothing, lips pulled into a grimace and brow knitted in distress.

Neji approached his bed and, after a moment of nervous uncertainty, he gave himself a contemptuous snort and reached for Naruto's shoulder, the fabric of the sleeveless nightshirt not wide enough to keep Neji from touching bare skin, hot and damp under his hand. He shook him gently, and that was enough.

He meant to pull back when Naruto's eyes snapped open, but he didn't get the chance. Naruto's hand snapped up and fastened around his wrist in a deathgrip, and he sat up in a convulsive jerk, his entire body wound tight. He stared about, groggily afraid, and his free hand groped outward from where he sat, as if he was unsure how much room there was. His grip on Neji's wrist was tight. The heat and dampness of his strong fingers and broad palm felt like a brand on his skin..

Neji was frozen, too surprised to try and break the grip that pressed his hand to Naruto's shoulder. He could feel the muscle and bone under his fingers, overly warm from the stress of the dream, slightly tacky with drying sweat. Then Naruto grabbed him bodily, both fists closing around handfuls of tunic at Neji's waist, pulling him close so Naruto's forehead fell against his belly. Neji gasped and pushed himself immediately free with a violent shove at Naruto's shoulders, stumbling backwards across the space between their beds, struggling to pull some kind of calm up over the rolling heat and fear that wrestled inside him.

Naruto blinked, staring at nothing, and wrapped his arms around himself instead. His face was strained, dread etched into his features. He shuddered, and Neji saw his eyes slowly focus, then snap to meet Neji's. Vague surprise skittered over his face, relief, then embarrassment, and then finally an apologetic expression and a "see you later" wave as he got unsteadily off the bed and went out the door without a word.

After a moment of blank confusion spent staring at Naruto's rumpled bed, Neji still felt the phantom of Naruto's hot palm on his hand, the weight of his head against his stomach, and he swallowed, mouth dry. What was wrong with him? And how could that terrible feeling persist at a time like this? Naruto was clearly in a bad way, hadn't even known what he was doing. It was stupid that Neji even react with such filthy feelings.

He hurriedly looked out the door, and only just saw Naruto turning down the corner at the end of the hall, which was ridiculous. The only thing down that corridor was a door out to the bowl. And Naruto hadn't even taken his boots.

Neji picked up his cloak again and swung it back on, and pulled Naruto's off its hook. He picked up the boots by their laces and headed down the hall.

He'd seen Naruto turn the corner, but Neji was still not quite expecting him to be outside.

Yet there he stood, perhaps twenty feet away from the door when Neji opened it, a dark shape in the dark bowl. The cold chilled away the last of Neji's unwanted arousal as he stepped through, and he could concentrate again on the trouble at hand.

Naruto had his arms crossed over his chest, his only defense against the chill. He was standing barefoot on the icy stone of the bowl, tilted slightly back, face turned upward to the sky. He was so focused on looking up that he started when Neji came near, staring in surprise at the cloak and boots in Neji's arms.

The surprise was vulnerable, uneasy, uncertain, and he seemed like an entirely different person. Naruto was only ever defiant, confidant, and loudly happy or amused or angry, and this was a strange contrast.

After a moment, Naruto took the offered clothing, stepping into the boots with a grateful sigh and wrapping the cloak firmly around himself. He looked upward again almost right away.

"Why did you come outside?" Neji asked. This wasn't safe. If Neji hadn't come with the extra clothing, would Naruto have stayed outside until he became ill? This strange behaviour, this haunted, hesitant demeanour was unsettling.

"Just needed to get outside a bit, be able to look up," Naruto said. Neji looked up too. The moon was near-full, hanging over the western lip of the bowl, and its light edged a few scattered clouds with a soft white glow. The stars were twinkling in their multitudes in the clear areas, the cold making their light feel sharp and distant.

"Are you… ill? Do you need a healer?" Neji ventured.

Naruto laughed at that, and brought his gaze downward to meet Neji with a brief look of happy fondness that faded when he looked up again. "They said they can't do anything about dreams without a shitload of sleepy drugs. It's not a big deal."

"Does this happens often?" Neji asked. Something in the way Naruto had spoken seemed to indicate this wasn't all that rare.

"Nah, not now. But when it does I just come outside and it's fine." Naruto shrugged. "No big deal," Naruto smiled as he repeated the words, but it wasn't like the brief grin from before. It wasn't spontaneous, but only for show, the unsettled look about him making the expression completely unlike normal. "Doesn't happen when there are other people around, so don't worry, I won't wake you up."

Neji frowned slightly. He was a light sleeper, and he would have noticed if this had happened in his presence. But he would rather be around to be woken when this happened, he realized. Even with that appalling lust to suppress, he was bothered more that this was happening when Naruto was alone.

When Naruto was alone. Neji narrowed his eyes. "Is this the only time this has happened this week?" he asked.

"Uh." Naruto shrugged again, and Neji wondered why he was belittling his own difficulty when he was so vehement about getting involved with other people's. Especially given his normal constant crowing for attention. "No."

"Not every night?" Neji felt his frown intensify when Naruto's shoulders rose and fell in yet another shrug, along with an affirmative but dismissive head-tilt. Then a sudden, disturbing thought struck him. "Before I arrived..?"

Naruto's face darkened at that, old hurt clouding his features, and he looked away, upward. "No… I mean, yeah, but I had another roommate when I moved into that room, at first, so it was only after he, uh, left. Just a couple months."

Another roommate. Neji felt a pang of... something odd… at the idea, but it was minor compared to the knowledge that Naruto hadn't had a night of uninterrupted sleep for the months between his former roommate and Neji.

He wanted to ask what could possibly cause this, but it wasn't his place to ask. His mind wasn't too polite to silently speculate, however. This was some kind of claustrophobic reaction, perhaps? But there was also more. Naruto had held onto him so tightly, before Neji had fought free of his grip, a memory that struck him with guilt, now, instead of that frantic fear.

What could have happened to Naruto?

Neji came out of his thoughts to see that Naruto was watching him. His speculations must have shown, from Naruto's self-conscious expression, and he cursed himself for not maintaining a calm exterior, schooling his face right away, ordering his thoughts along with it.

"Don't…" Naruto said with the tolerant exasperation that Neji was very used to seeing whenever Naruto thought he was being stiff, "You don't have to be polite. It makes sense you'd wanna know after seeing this. It's not very interesting anyway," once again, that shrug. Neji couldn't make himself refuse in favour of Naruto's privacy, and so he kept silent.

Naruto's next words where uncharacteristically self-effacing, as though what he was about to tell was news of little interest. "You know games kids play… Well, I was kind of, uh, on the fringe, as a kid, right, back at Konoha Hold," he said it as though it were a joke, and rubbed absently at one marked cheek, "but I wanted to play anyways. I did get into games now and then, I bet just so I'd stop asking," he chuckled, but there wasn't any of the amusement Neji could hear him trying to pretend. "So… one day it was hide and seek. There was a whole group of holdbrats, and I wouldn't leave, so they let me play." He rolled his eyes. "I found a little cabinet in a storage room, and then I got myself locked into it. And they didn't look for me." Naruto's mouth quirked, and then widened in a poor imitation of humour at his own expense, "Since I couldn't get out, I was there till the next day, when someone who came into the storeroom noticed the, uh, smell."

Neji frowned, then realized that a day inside a cabinet didn't stop one's bodily processes, and he couldn't completely suppress a wince. Naruto's mouth was tight for a moment, then he gave Neji a grimace that was probably supposed to be silly. "Yeah, I know! But that's all it was, see? Just a dumb accident, nothing horrible, except now, there's just, you know, stupid dreams, then I just come out here to let'em wear off. It's all over quick, and I go back to bed."

_Liar_, Neji thought. Yes, Naruto had fled their small room to the open bowl, but he seemed to be ignoring the other part, the fact that it only happened when he was alone, the desperate reaching out when he'd woken to another person nearby. Or maybe he didn't even realize himself what that meant, why he had nightmares only when no one else was around. _No one came for you, and when you're alone you remember that. _

Neji wondered how much of that also contributed to Naruto's rather tactile nature. That was something Neji had thus far been spared, because Naruto had avoided touching him while his wounds had been healing, and that seemed to have become a habit. But Naruto tackled, hugged, pounded on the back, and purposefully knocked into everyone else he was friends with.

"Sorry you had to bring this stuff out here," Naruto twitched the cloak so one edge rippled, the words and motion dislodging Neji from his speculation, "Go on, go back to bed," he added, sounding almost normal, and evidently ready to drop the previous subject.

"It wasn't a bother. It's too cold out for you to be here in your nightclothes," Neji answered solemnly, "and I would be awake for another hour if the shift hadn't ended early." He looked over his shoulder at the door, then back at Naruto. "I'll wait here unless you would prefer to be alone."

"Oh. Sure." Naruto smiled at him briefly, and this time there was real happiness in the expression. Gratitude and warmth as well. Neji felt a little glow of unexpected contentment at that, and found himself returning the smile.

Naruto turned his eyes back to the stars after a few moments, and Neji copied him, though his mind was elsewhere.

Silence let his mind work, though, and gradually the warm feeling of Naruto's gratitude was edged out by the unsettling memory of Naruto's hand on his wrist, Naruto's grip on his waist—and his own hand on Naruto's shoulder. The sensations came back to him with disturbing strength, along with the memory of what he'd thought had been going on in their room, that Naruto had been… except he hadn't been, not even close, but still, an echo of the idea rippled through Neji now. Rushing warmth, quickening pulse… _No,_ he thought anxiously, _no, stop. _

The memory was lingering only because he wasn't used to people touching him. That was all, that was _it_.

_That doesn't explain how you came up with that first thought all on your own, though, does it? _

Neji dug his fingernails into his palms and firmly banished the subject, concentrating on the stars overhead, the constellations he could see.

When Naruto finally moved, ready to head back to their room, Neji fell in next to him. Naruto flashed him a wide grin that was promptly distorted by a huge yawn. He shook his head to dispel it, eyes amused at himself. "Yeah, bed," he said, and yanked open the door. "let me at it!" Neji closed it behind them with rather more restraint and followed Naruto down the hall. Back to normal already, Neji marvelled. Naruto didn't spend much time feeling bothered about his own troubles.

_No_, Neji thought, feeling the gratitude he had yet to know how to convey to Naruto, _he's too busy bothering with everyone else's._

Back in bed, Naruto dropped off instantly. Neji was reassured by that—apparently Naruto truly did get back to normal reasonably quickly. But Neji remained awake, unable to even start the slow doze to sleep.

His mind kept replaying what he'd first thought he'd heard, and Naruto's every slow breath only added to the torturous—and false—recollection. The lust he only wanted to be rid of spread farther through him, and he swallowed a whine of protest as he felt blood gathering, thickening. He rolled onto his side, his back to Naruto in a pointless rejection.

He lay perfectly still, flushed with heat and his body's growing desire for pressure, friction, contact, far more aware of himself than he'd ever been, every inch of his skin itched for a touch. His mouth went dry as he fought off memories that made everything worse. Naruto's careful fingertips, from all those months ago, treating his wounds, Naruto's heavy, warm hand closing around his wrist from not even an hour before—Neji twisted his hands into the bedsheet and held on, refusing to give in.

Naruto slept on, oblivious and untroubled, and apparently in no danger of more nightmares, with Neji in the room, and for that Neji managed to be glad, but for himself, he felt only trapped. This wasn't supposed to happen to him, he wasn't _like that_. Misery flooded over the surface of his filthy lust, reaching beyond his current predicament to all the days he had ahead. He was happy here. Why did it have to be ruined?

He had come to appreciate Naruto's company, he didn't want to lose it, but this… this was not something he knew how to bear.

Seconds stretched into the dark, and it took a very long time for Neji to fall asleep.


	7. Chapter 6 Stumbling

**Chapter Six: Stumbling**

One week later, Neji unpacked the last of his clothing and wondered if his problem might possible be solved.

He and Naruto had been moved from their small room, shifted into the dorms where most of the candidates lived.

The shift had come about because a worldwide request for candidates that had come from the newly founded Grand Line Weyr, asking for volunteers from each established Weyr. Six had chosen to be transferred from Konoha, but even with only a few from every Weyr, Grand Line would have enough to ensure a good choice for their first clutch at hatching time.

For Konoha, this mainly meant that Neji and Naruto and some other overflow candidates could now be placed in the dorms to free up the rooms they'd been using for guests and other temporary visitors.

Neji had never slept in a dormitory, even back at Hyuuga, but in the wake of Naruto's night-time ordeal, and his own, he thought it was for the best that they were here. It had been odd enough learning to sleep with one other person in the room, though, and he wasn't sure how long it would take to get accustomed to fifteen more.

Naruto's would be sleeping across from his, now, both of them in the last beds in their row, snugly up against the wall with the door to the hallway. There was a heavy curtain that could be drawn around each bed for privacy and slight noise muffling, and to keep out the glowbasket light from the hall, but that was still a far cry from a two-bed room.

As long as Neji didn't have to endure lying awake, alone with Naruto, it was enough. Hopefully enough to defuse the tension that Neji was starting to feel during the day as well.

Now he wouldn't hear Naruto breathing and shifting in the next bed anymore. Ever since Naruto had grabbed him, held on, ever since Neji had mistakenly thought Naruto had been… touching himself… just being alone with him was getting difficult.

A burst of raucous laughter made Neji frown. No, he certainly wasn't alone with Naruto anymore, not with Kiba and Chouji and the rest to make their rackets and bother him in nice, safely annoying ways.

Neji didn't like the noise here, he didn't like sharing the room with everyone else. He did regret that they no longer had their small shared space, but the comforts of it had been lost well before this move. For the past week, in the wake of Naruto clutching at him upon waking from his nightmare, Neji had lain in uncomfortable, inescapable awareness every night, until exhaustion pulled him into sleep.

Daylight, at least, had been tolerable, but only at first. Neji wasn't on the same chore group as Naruto, but they did share lesson and meals. There were plenty of distractions, and Neji had years of practice with concealing his feelings, and so it had felt almost normal, until lights out.

But after today, he knew that this was better.

It had been a day of shared chore shifts. A great four-times-yearly Weyr cleaning effort that candidates were an integral part of, and Neji had been shoulder-to-shoulder with Naruto, or so it felt like, for the entire time. Far too many physical contacts—hands covering hands while passing items to be un-shelved or re-shelved, shoulders bumping through narrow doorways, Naruto leaning _right over him_ to reach for another scrubbing brush or empty bucket or a new rag, so close Neji could feel the heat of him, smell his sweat—Neji was almost certain, he made himself believe, that no longer sharing quarters would diminish the impact of all those shameful stimuli.

Now, Neji was nearly done stowing his things. As he tucked the last shirt into the clothes chest at the foot of his bed, mostly tuned out the chatter around him. Naruto was talking and laughing with Kiba and Chouji at the foot of Chouji's bed.

"Green boys? It doesn't really look like too many for this go-round, does it? There are a lot of girls," Naruto said, and Neji was suddenly paying full attention, unable not to, despite not wanting to hear anything about green boys. "And none of the new guys look green."

"Never know," came a laconic voice, and Neji knew Shikamaru had joined the little gathering. A glance over confirmed that, the top-knotted boy sprawled idly on Chouji's cot.

"Yeah, but we're talking holdbred," Chouji answered, "Not many of those turn out green 'less it's obvious. Like, we got Kiba—"

"Not green!" Kiba guffawed, and Neji glanced over to see him balancing on his toes, eyeing Shikamaru, "I like girls too much. But I've never…" he trailed off with an honestly speculative look, then smirked and pinched Shikamaru's calf as if testing the quality, grinning at the acerbic look he got. "Guess I'll have to try a few things. Maybe even catch a few. I'm not green, but I'm… flexible."

Neji gritted his teeth at the hooting and crude innuendo that adjective triggered. He didn't want to listen to this conversation, he didn't want to know if Kiba cared to "catch" a male dragonrider. Hanging about outside a mating weyr as a potential bedmate for the dragonlust-crazed riders whose dragons had fallen out of the flight wasn't something they were supposed to be discussing anyway.

He had finished his unpacking. But there was no point in leaving the dormitory. Master Hayate would be along soon to lead a class on manners and protocol for when the first tithe train festival event began in two weeks. Neji pulled a shirt with a torn seam from the clothes chest, and retrieved his needle and thread from the nightstand drawer. Make-work was make-work, but at least he could try to ignore them.

"And who else? Shino?" That was directed at Kiba as well, as his near-constant companion was not back from chores yet. Kiba shrugged.

"He doesn't talk about that," Kiba said, "you know how he is. I wouldn't guess green, but…"

"He doesn't talk about anything," Naruto put in with a snort, "weird guy."

"He's alright." Kiba said, and Neji could hear a slightly aggressive edge to his voice. "Didn't help the way people looked at him when he got here. His family breeds those bugs to make medicine, but they all just think it's gross."

"Yeah, yeah," Naruto placated. It sounded casual but everyone knew the understanding ran deeper than that. "Yeah. Well, mystery should help with the girls. Guys. Whatever he wants. I could use some of that."

"You couldn't be mysterious for sex or even your own hide," Chouji chuckled, "all you do is get in everyone's face."

"It's a skill!" Naruto protested in predictable overreaction. They laughed at him and Neji looked up to see Naruto with his arms crossed proudly, expression bright with good humour. Naruto met Neji's gaze, and he returned the infectious look with a smile of his own, despite his discomfiture. Naruto's grin widened.

"And you, yet another imported holdbrat!" Naruto crowed, and bounded to Neji's bed. His eyes sparkled with amusement, but Neji had to fight immediate misgivings and the sudden urge to move back. He knew he wasn't at ease enough to participate so casually in this conversation, but he didn't want that to show.

Unfortunately, it looked like Naruto was fully caught up in the joking, because he leaned far too close, and waggled his eyebrows. "Green?" he asked, running a finger playfully along Neji's jaw. Neji inhaled slightly and held himself still. Naruto's eyes narrowed in an exaggerated leer, and he flattened his hands on his own chest, moving them suggestively. Neji felt that terrible warmth beginning in him again, and wished he could get away. "Think you could ever lust after this fine specimen?" Naruto ended with a chuckle.

Difficulty with the green and blue weyrfolk was a running gag at the expense of holdbred candidates, whether it was true of them or not. Most weyrfolk were tolerant as newer arrivals learned some tolerance of their own, but being gently mocked was part of the acclimation. And so Naruto plainly expected Neji to refute him, as had happened before, with some appropriately biting sarcastic quip. This was teasing, and not malicious, and certainly not meant as an insult.

And had it been Kiba or Shikamaru, or had Naruto kept his hands to himself, Neji might have mustered some correct reply. Had this been another day, one less plagued with inadvertent contacts and awful reactions, he might even have answered as Naruto expected. He'd stayed at the Weyr long enough to be able to react appropriately in this type of casually jesting situation. Or he ought to have been.

But that light stroke down his jaw was like a match to a fuse, and the memories of the sensations that Neji had accumulated over their time together thus far exploded and cascaded over him, from Naruto's first rough grip on his tunic, way back at Hyuuga, to the gentle hands on his infected back to the hot, sweaty, nightmare-shocked shoulder under his palm and strong, frightened grip on his waist. The curl of heat in his belly that had smouldered all day long flared up, and with it his fear and disgust at himself.

Then he was awash in panicked fury, unable to keep the anger and insult off his face.

Naruto's grin vanished, replaced with realization, and then dread.

Neji sucked in a deep breath. It was too much. He could be normal again, but the problem here was Naruto, wasn't it? Neji could ignore it otherwise, but Naruto, whenever he was near, was always causing this reaction, and it was only getting worse.

"Move back, Kyuubi," he bit off, too quietly for the other boys to hear, and cursing the tremor in his voice. "Do _not_ touch me," the next words came without thought, but were spat with a vehemence that came right from the panicked dread in his gut, "and _stay away_."

Hurt, grief and apology all washed across Naruto's features. Anger flashed across next, and then vanished, leaving a stunned regret that made something sharp twist in Neji's chest, deep beneath the self-disgust.

After the sharp, shocked pain and twitch of anger, stunned disappointment and a heavy, cold weight settled in the wide blue eyes. None of that calmed the heat in Neji's body, however. Or the hostility that had flooded in over it.

And that, Naruto seemed to realize. After another frozen moment, the corners of his eyes tensed slightly. Then all the emotion faded. The last to go was angry hurt, and then he finally moved back. He was already grinning again as he turned back to the other boys. "Still a mystery, guys!" Neji, too, composed himself before Naruto stood up straight, meeting the good-humored laughter with a blank-faced head-shake they seemed to take for jesting holdbred green-fear. His Hyuuga training served him perfectly.

As Naruto continued with the exchange of banter and joking insults, Neji felt his surge of emotions even out. He became calm, almost frozen with it; if Naruto stayed away, he wouldn't have a single problem. The sickening weight had gone from inside him, and if its absence left an vacant feeling in his relief, it would be worth it. It had to be.

Old habits came to his rescue before any regret could gain a dangerous foothold within him. Reasoning coolly laying itself out. He had ceased to need Naruto for help with his injuries months ago. Likewise, Naruto would now be in no danger of suffering bad nights. There was no need for Naruto to come anywhere near him, no need for either in the other's presence.

And if that angry look was any indication, he needn't worry at all, because he'd just broken whatever bond they'd built since his arrival.

Neji felt an ache growing in his stomach, and wondered if he'd eaten something bad at midday meal.

* * *

Naruto feigned careless humour with the guys without any trouble, but he was aware of Neji the entire time, not that far behind him, ignoring them all. Though he'd grasped right away what had happened, what he'd done, most of him was still reeling from the suddenness, and when Candidatemaster Hayate arrived some minutes later, he paid little attention to the lecture.

_I fucked it up, _he cursed at himself. He hadn't thought. He'd just ridden the momentum of his good humour into complete and total callous stupidity.

Part of him was angry at Neji, and still smarting from the 'Kyuubi' appellation. It wasn't Naruto's fault the stuck-up Hyuuga boy was so hidebound. They lived in a Weyr. Neji had to get off his prejudiced, close-minded high horse and put that stuff behind him.

But… Neji _had_. He'd done as well or better than any candidate brought in from a place with ideals similar to Hyuuga. He had never ever acted impolite towards any actual green folks. There had been visible difficulty with that in the beginning, obvious signs that Neji still held the Hyuuga tenets, but it had been equally obvious that he aware those tenets didn't belong here.

All that awkwardness had faded with time as he interacted with the green fellows and blue girls enough to realize they were just people like anyone else. He willingly spent time with Lee, now, and seemed to enjoy it.

Now Neji only became obviously uncomfortable when suggestive talk became less suggestive and more explicit. But he'd never snapped like that before. Of course, no one had ever pushed him like that before either.

Shame for the unthinking joke was settling into his stomach. Naruto had definitely gone much too far past Neji's slowly lowering boundaries. He'd cornered him.

Master Iruka had explained once that while most people could come to accept others being different from what they thought was normal, some people tended to have much more difficulty accepting that the difference could apply to them, even at a Weyr, where the average was very heavily skewed away from that of Hold life.

Which was why jokes could go to far if the joker didn't watch what he was doing. And Naruto had well and truly horrified Neji. There had been fear under that anger. Naruto felt sick.

He'd been too carried away, as usual. Naruto had shoved Neji right into it. Naruto could have stopped himself from teasing if he'd had the brains to think for once.

Naruto saw Sasuke in his mind's eye for a moment, the moment their friendship had broken. There'd been no fear then, but plenty of fury, cold and implacable, focused entirely on him, just as Neji's angry horror had been. And then he'd left. _Neji won't leave. He's happy here, he belongs here,_ Naruto refuted his comparison. He knew Neji wasn't Sasuke. He wasn't so darkly obsessed, so dangerous... and he wasn't going to disappear.

Disappear? No. But Naruto driven him away nonetheless, and lost another person who was important to him.

"Remember," Hayate was saying, "you're all meant to be on your best behaviour. The visiting holders and traders are not weyrfolk, and—" he paused to cough, "—thus you will have to remember to keep an open mind and allow for the differences in the lives we lead."

Naruto hid the miserable feeling that Master Hayate's words gave him by studying the list hung on the wall of who would be coming. Tithe trains arrived in a rush when winter ended. Spring tithes were trade goods and crafted supplies. Trains arrived gradually when it was summer, and then there was a second large event in the fall, when harvests sent wagons of food to the Weyr.. Spring though, meant glasscraft hall, minercraft, the Rocky Coast caravan and the Sunriver traders… Naruto eyed the list halfheartedly.

He glanced over at Neji, who was studying it too, face a solemn, impenetrable mask, as if he was committing it to memory.

Probably was, at that, Naruto thought, an miserable wash of emotion sluicing through him when he remembered he couldn't go over and sit next to him and talk about it, tell him all about the different things the traders brought, the chances for shopping and trading, the sweets and clothing and trinkets that made the whole thing almost worthy of a Gather.

But Neji had told him to stay away, and Naruto was determined to prove he could, in fact, keep his idiot self under control.


	8. Chapter 7 Staring Across the Divide

**Chapter Seven: Staring Across the Divide**

The Weyr was teeming with visitors. The Spring Tithe was in full swing, the first rush of good to the Weyr from all the holds they protected.

It had been a flood for two days as the caravan trains arrived, each almost on the heels of the one before it, unless it was actually a whole group at once. The bonfires that started the celebration would be lit tonight in the bowl.

Neji wanted the night to be over with.

One of the names on the list that Master Hayate had handed out had been scrawled at the front of his mine since he'd first read it two weeks ago. The Sunriver traders were due today, one of the last scheduled to arrive, and if he and Hinata could only stay out of their way for the night, he would be able to breath again in the morning, when the candidates resumed normal chores, well away from the visiting holders and traders.

But today, as they'd done since the first tithe train had rolled up through the passage under the wall of the bowl, all the candidates and weyrlings were out in force with the lower caverns folk, unpacking, piling, stacking and hauling goods of all sorts to wherever they were meant to go. Endless, hard work, but it wasn't the physical tiredness that wore on Neji.

Chore groups had been split into new teams for this work. Neji, Naruto, Sakura and Ino were together, and Neji had never wished so desperately for Lee's constant chatter and silly competitions as he had during the long, awkward hours with Naruto ignoring him, him ignoring Naruto, and Sakura and Ino staring at them both, and not particularly covertly either.

Today they had been assigned to help unload a seemingly endless wagon train filled with cloth of all sorts, the usual spring tithe of manufactured goods from the Weaver Hall in Konoha's territory. Spun wool and cotton, bales of thread, and woven, uncut cloth.

It was simple labour, with nothing to occupy Neji's thoughts.. That combined with Naruto's proximity made it a very trying time. It had been over two weeks since Neji had told Naruto to stay away.

Naruto had. Completely.

Neji had been surprised. He'd expected Naruto to forget the outburst, settle quickly back to the way things had been before, and probably try to pry an explanation out of Neji while he did it.

But since then, Naruto had never so much as approached him or said a single word more that was required by training or chore circumstances.

Neji found himself more hurt than pleased, which in turn made him angry.

Moreover, Neji had been incredibly frustrated to discover that separation didn't eliminate the deviant reactions that kept welling up. His mind had broken through some kind of barrier, and now provided ample and unavoidable stimuli all on its own.

Worse yet, it was as though he now saw the entire male population of the Weyr through some kind of warped prism. Kiba… Lee… Candidatemaster Genma… men caught his eye. But those distractions he manage to suppress easily. Naruto was still by far the worst, each errant mental image provoking a vastly deeper rush of reaction than anyone else.

Between the anger and the disgusting lust, it became easy to want to keep back from Naruto, ridiculous hurt feelings aside. To Neji, Naruto was the cause, the trigger, of all that had come over him during that moment of crisis two weeks ago. And Neji wanted no part of these feelings. He didn't.

But still they came, even if Naruto never gave him a second look anymore.

It hadn't gone unnoticed by the others. The way he and Naruto had stuck together during the early days of Neji's arrival had been noted, and though neither Naruto nor Neji made any overly obvious moves to advertise the rift between them, their peers caught on quickly. Neji ignored the questioning looks, rebuffed Hinata's tentative questions, and it served him fine.

Unexpectedly, Naruto was equally tight-lipped, shrugging and deflecting and being selectively deaf. Neji was at first surprised, and then coolly appreciative that Naruto wasn't making a big fuss. And even if Sakura and Ino just now seemed highly interested in finding out what had happened, Neji and Naruto's apparent mutual disinterest became part of the social order after the first few days.

If only Neji could manage to so easily rearrange himself. Even with his unwavering need to distance himself from Naruto and thus the perversity of male attraction, he felt the loss of his first days at the Weyr.

Naruto was also… or, had been… a friend, and the epitome, for Neji, of what made the Weyr different from Hyuuga.

So… so what? Neji had learned what Naruto had to teach, he understood now how to get along at the Weyr. He was done with needing a guide. And so he tried his best to forget the one who'd taught him, and push away the sadness and regret that seemed as insidious as his unwanted lust.

"Hey," Naruto caught his attention with an uninflected monosyllable, and tossed him a sack from the bed of the wagon, and Neji caught it, both of them as politely cooperative as they were forced to be by their circumstances. He threw the sack to the growing pile that a few weyrlings were working on, their dragons lifting two or three sacks at a time and ferrying them to the appropriate door in the wall of the bowl.

As he worked, he kept an eye on the surroundings, alert to what else was arriving and from where. The sun was high overhead now. It would be soon.

A single wagon with the glasscraft shield was being unloaded with extreme care, crates going to the infirmaries. A long string of wagons pulled not by horses but by massive pairs of oxen was marked by the minercraft shield.

The next caravan to roll slowly into view over the gentle slope of the bowl from the tunnel under the wall was the one he'd been waiting for, but Neji's heart still jumped, and then tripled its speed.

The familiar painted wagons bore no shield, because the traders that ran it never stopped moving, but the distinctive blue and gold design was their identifier. They had come to Hyuuga regularly, up until a few months before Neji had left. Their last visit had been cut short.

Lord Hiashi had expelled them from the hold because the leadership of the traveling had changed. The husband-and-wife couple who had overseen the group had retired and handed down the reins. And now the leaders of the group of families was a male couple.

It had been a minor uproar at Hyuuga, because a few people had left with them, including two boys that Lord Hiashi had had beaten the week previous for being found sleeping together.

"Excuse me," Neji said absently to his group, and headed through the maze of wagons and people for the woodcrafter's caravan, where Hinata had been assigned, most fortunately, with her usual chore group of Kiba and Shino. It was a good distance away, and his urgency rose with each step, spiked each time he had to stand still to let someone pass. He jogged the last few meters, caught Hinata's sleeve, and the other two looked over as well.

"N-neji?" she asked, stuttering at his expression.

"The Sunriver Traders have arrived," he said, and her eyes widened and she nodded slowly.

"What's so important about that?" Kiba asked, "They come around every year." But Hinata only frowned, nervous apprehension and guilt in her eyes. Neji looked at Kiba, and then at his taller, ever-present shadow, Shino.

"Don't let them near her," he said. They both nodded, though they were clearly confused. Hinata could explain, so Neji turned on his heel and went back to his assigned work location. He paused in his step momentarily, cursing silently when he saw the Sunriver train was in the parking area next to the cloth wagons.

Sliding back into his place, he carefully kept his back to the trader caravan, not turning even when Naruto hailed them from his perch on the wagon, exchanging shouts of greeting and bellowed queries about health and fortune.

He avoided notice successfully until he had to climb to the next wagon bed for his turn at passing down sacks. As he hoisted himself up, he glanced out of the corner of his eye at the blue and gold wagons. Apprehension settled in his stomach as he saw a young man, one of the two formerly of Hyuuga, staring in his direction. After that he kept his eyes on the sacks and nothing else.

His wariness eased as the day went on. His group was assigned to another caravan, and then another, until the work was done for the day. He had seen the blue and gold wagons only from a distance after they'd finished unloading the cloth.

Now, in the darkening evening, the massive crowd of weyrfolk, traders, crafters and caravan drivers were eating and dancing and singing around the ring of bonfires in the bowl, the cool spring night having just enough snap left to keep people tight around the flames, while at the center of the circle of fires, the Weyr's harpers were adding music to the general din of the night, accompanied by anyone else who was skilled with an instrument. Master Iruka was there now, adding his voice to the chorus of a favourite up-tempo ballad.

Finishing his food and breaking away from the fire he'd been sitting at with Lee and Tenten, he acknowledged his Lee's loud "Sleep deep until the morning!" with a wave, and headed around the edge of the circle for the nearest entrance to the Weyr.

As he went, Neji spotted Hinata sandwiched between her two friends. That was reassuring. It was unlikely she'd been noticed earlier, and now it was too dark to make out the distinctive paleness of her eyes from without being up close. Naruto was around this fire as well, fighting with Chouji over a sack of sweets while Shikamaru rolled his eyes.

"Hey," Kiba called out to him, and he stopped with a slight sigh and approached the heat and light of the fire. "Shouldn't you be careful too?" Kiba asked when he drew close enough, "I don't see you sticking with anyone. Where's Lee and Tenten?"

Lee was with his beloved Master Gai, and it would be cruel to tear him away from a chance to spend time with the rider he admired so much. Tenten was with them, and while she wasn't so attached to Master Gai as Lee, she was still in the middle of eating. "I'm returning to the dormitory," he replied. He wasn't in the mood for festivities. "It's not that far."

Kiba frowned. "Take Akamaru for the walk, just in case," he said, urging the sturdy bronze fire lizard onto Neji's shoulder. The little creature perched delicately while Kiba thought instructions at him, then investigated Neji's hair, and crawled curiously under it to drape over the nape of his neck. "Just say, 'get Kiba,' and he'll come find me."

"Yes, fine," Neji said, feeling slightly long-suffering. But he appreciated the gesture. He felt Akamaru's tiny claws plucking at his hair, and hoped the fire lizard wouldn't get tangled under there.

"Kiba!" Naruto's voice called across, and Neji turned and continued on his original path.

The warmth of the fires and the noise of the crowd faded as he walked away, muffling completely once he went inside. A lower caverns worker passed him, carrying a huge a basket of flour-dusted bread rolls. Neji returned her grin with a nod. The corridor curved gently with the shape of the bowl, with halls branching off regularly. Eventually was the corridor that led off toward the kitchens, and then somewhat further was the large opening to the dining hall, the rows of tables empty and silent, since the event, and food, was all outside. Opposite the wide opening were the big double doors that led into the bowl, now closed. The stillness was jarring, his footsteps echoing in the vacant hall.

It was after he had turned down the next fork that Neji realized he hadn't avoided trouble after all. From the hallways that branched off to the baths appeared five young men. Two were the ones formerly of Hyuuga. The other three, Neji assumed, were other members of the Sunriver group. All of them were eyeing him with anticipatory threat.

His mouth drying, Neji came to a stop, wondering how they'd come to be ahead of him instead of following him. But that was easily answered. Two of the trader boys had fire lizards. One brown, one green. Perfect for instant communication. Akamaru was still hidden under Neji's hair, warm against his neck.

"Can I help you, traders?" Neji asked with a politeness he didn't feel.

"Yeah, we got a question," the one with the brown flitter said in a trader drawl dripping with sarcasm, "how'd a piece-of-shit Hyuuga brat end up here?"

Neji felt a strange, hot tightening of his chest. Partly fear of what could be about to happen, partly angry frustration that he was being harassed for something he'd had no control over, something that had sickened him to hear about.

He looked at the group. Five was a lot to try to fight. His combat training from Hyuuga was probably not enough to let him win this, never mind the far less rigorous self-defense classes from the Weyr.

"I was Searched," Neji answered. He'd say that much in his own defense, but was not inclined to refute the insult attached to his old family name. There was nothing to deny there.

"Liar," spat one of the ex-residents, curly brown hair falling into his eyes, skinny body practically vibrating with anger. What was his name… Jun. He'd been an apprentice animal healer.

"Don't they know what you people do?" the other snarled, fury in his eyes. He'd been the cook's main assistant, and a favorite among the hold children for his tendency to slip them treats. Neji stared at him, the untidy black hair and slightly overweight build more familiar than his name… Taro. That was it.

"I'm sorry for what happened to you," Neji said, keeping to polite, but without a moment of hope that they would believe him. Even if they did, he knew, there was no way to make amends. Neji could not imagine forgiving his uncle or Naota for his own punishments. And Neji didn't even have the luxury Hinata did, of knowing she'd opposed the treatment of the traders and the beating of the two boys.

"Don't you dare say that," Jun said, moving forward and taking a fistful of Neji's tunic. Neji fought not to react. To do anything now would provoke them further. "And take this off. Everyone should see just how worthless you really are," he reached for Neji's headband. Neji jerked back in reflex, more dread spreading inside him. No one saw that tattoo here. No one but Naruto, Hinata, and the Weyrling Staff knew he was from the Branch family.

Jun punched him, and Neji moved just enough to avoid a broken nose in favor of a rock-hard fist to his cheek that made his head spin.

Two of the traders pinned his arms to the wall, and Jun buried his fist in Neji's stomach. Neji buckled and choked as the blow drove all the air from him. Akamaru, who had been getting tenser and tenser, finally emerged from Neji's hair with a screech and popped _between_. Mocking laughter filled the hallway at that. "Even your flitter don't like you," guffawed the trader with the green on his shoulder. Neji shook his head silently. Five against one. Maybe if he didn't fight back they would stop with this.

Jun grabbed the head band properly now, yanking it down over his face. The knot had loosened over the course of the day, and with a second hard pull it unraveled and the head band came away.

Jun pulled the leaf-embroidered cloth from Neji's neck and waved it in front of his face. "Can't hide what you really are," he sneered, and spat in Neji's face, spattering saliva down one cheek.

_That _was enough.

Jun had loosened his grip as he taunted, and Neji twisted free, ducked and drove a sharp elbow into the stomach of the other trader who held him. Hands landed on his back, but before they got a grip on his tunic, he dropped flat, kicked out, and heard a cry of pain as one of his boot heels struck someone's knee.

Another kick, another knee, and he rolled sideways.

They piled on him bodily then, a mass of grabbing, punching, scratching limbs. Their blows were unfocused, and his were precise, wrenching, jabbing, twisting… but they were too many, and he caught too many blows. One lucky punch caught him in the temple, and his head spun.

The muffled thumps of blows on flesh sounded loud in the hall, grunts of pain, the thunk of someone's head against the wall, and then the two fire lizards starting screeching.

"HEY!!" A roar sounded from far down the hall, with a slamming door and a stampede of feet. Neji knew that voice. And it wasn't Kiba's, but Naruto's. He heard Kiba's bellow soon enough, though, and Hinata's yell, among a whole chorus of angry shouts, and he snapped his head back, catching someone in the face, just as some of the weight on him fell away, and then more, and more, and he could heave upward and throw the last grappling body off his back, and spin to land a square punch right on the corner of the shortest trader boy's jaw, sending him staggering backward, spitting blood.

Naruto had flattened Taro, had one boot on the flabby cook's chest. Kiba had skinny Jun in an armlock, and Hinata had the largest trader on his knees, his arm twisted behind him and his wrist bent at a painful angle, her face grim. That sight shocked Neji out of further action, and she looked back at him, at first worried, then coloured slightly when she took in his amazement. He'd trained with her back at Hyuuga, sparred against her, always found her rather useless in her weak attacks and constant hesitation at opportunities. Apparently she had learned much more than he'd realized, and could use it when there was real cause.

It wasn't just them, though. Tenten and Lee and Sakura and Shino… and Chouji and Shikamaru and Ino… they all hung back seemingly only for lack of targets, as the last two who had attacked Neji were now frozen, the short one dabbing at his face, the one with the green flitter wide-eyed and wary.

Naruto drove his foot down against Taro's chest, looking aghast, and very angry. "Who the fuck are you?"

Neji stared, taken aback by the protective fury in his voice.

Naruto glanced around a moment, eyes meeting Neji's with not even a suggestion of disinterest, only painfully raw worry, doing a fast up-and-down check for damage. Then his jaw tightened. Neji watched his eyes flick up at the tattoo. Neji felt his face redden, and Naruto's expression turned compassionate, and he looked away.

Only to recognize the three trader boys. "Padrei…" he gaped at the one Hinata was holding down. "Hikaru? Goran?" Naruto said in utter disbelief at the other two. "How can you—"

"He hates greens!" Taro interrupted with a snarl, struggling against the booted foot that pressed him against the stone floor, "Why are you defending him? Do you know what they do to greens at Hyuuga?" Jun murmured at him to shut up, struggling uselessly against Kiba's grip. Taro was undeterred, forcing himself partway up on his elbows. "He's got the fucking tattoo right on his face, he's a puppet of the Hyuuga lord. He's a green-fearing mindless son of a wher, and he should be dumped back at Hyuuga where he belongs!"

Neji lunged forward, and Naruto, expression dark, made no move to stop him, but hands closed on his arm in an firm grip, and he stopped short, spinning to face Hinata.

She and gentled her hold on Neji as soon as he turned. She shook her head at him, and squeezed his arm.

She'd released the big trader to grab him, but the young man was wise enough to stay where he was, pinned under the gaze of the other candidates. He worked his wrist gingerly and said, "he told us that guy musta snuck in here, covered up his mark. Told us he'd wanna kill all the green and blue folks."

"You inbred asshole," Tenten muttered, and Neji looked at her in surprise at her language and vehemence. "Typical trader intelligence, is this?"

"He almost died of fever after they beat him!" Taro roared from his place on the floor, furious, but eyes bright with angry tears as he looked at Jun. "They almost killed him! Give _him_ a beating," Taro snarled, and waved a hand at Neji. "See how he likes it!"

Neji paled. Naruto made an audible sound of fury and lunged downward, and Taro blanched and recoiled as far as he could from the enraged visage above him.

"I didn't like it," Neji said. Naruto checked his movement and his head whipped around to stare at Neji.

The sudden weight of everyone else's eyes piled on as well, and Neji shook his head. He looked dully around, finally seeing the headband Jun had torn off him on the floor, torn during the scuffle, dirt ground into the embroidered leaf.

"Defy the Hyuuga in any way, and that's the payment," he said, kneeling to pick up the soiled scrap of cloth. "I covered my mark. I was beaten. And then I left." He glanced in Naruto's direction. "Let him up."

Naruto was still staring at him, his expression so deeply sympathetic that Neji felt his throat thicken into a knot. "Let him up," he repeated, with effort, and Naruto finally. stepped back. Neji looked over at Kiba next, and, startling as though he'd forgotten he was holding onto someone, he let go of Jun, who scurried forwards towards Taro.

"Five against one. They could have killed you," Naruto said angrily as Jun dropped down next to Taro, putting a gentle hand behind his head and helping him sit up.

"They didn't. I'm fine," Neji replied tiredly.

"You're not green-feared," Kiba was staring at Neji incredulously. "You're friends with _Lee_."

"The best!!" Lee declared staunchly from beyond him, and Neji closed his eyes briefly, unable to answer that.

"Well you sure as shit weren't beating anyone back there, right?" Naruto looked at Neji, who shook his head. Naota had always reserved that right, whether it was Neji who had earned (and quite a few times, not earned) the beating, or someone else. Neji had found the whole process disgusting whenever he'd had them misfortune of witnessing it, as only someone who'd shared the punishment could.

"I can't fucking believe you," Naruto rounded again on Taro and Jun. "You two suffer because of who you love, so you think you can turn around and attack people because of where they were born? Are you fucking stupid?" Naruto's hands were in fists, raised, but he only growled and turned away, disgust and something deeper fueling the anger in his eyes. Neji watched him rub his face with one hand, fingertips dragging roughly over his whisker marks.

Neji's forehead itched.

Taro's eyes flickered to Neji. His hatred was faltering into frustration. Naruto turned back to look at them. "And everyone knows what Weyr life is like. Even him. He wasn't used to it when he got here, but he never acted green-feared of anyone here, not for a second," he barked.

_Liar_, Neji thought, his breaking of their friendship coming back to him in every detail, the quick closing off of Naruto's face to him. And all the reasons why shuddered through him with great disgust. _Liar_. So he had never done—would never do—anything insulting to earnest, boisterous Lee, or ever thought to disrespect Master Iruka, but…

_Good for you._ _You're not a bigot, then. You're just a coward._

Taro was fuming, though the wind was gone from his sails. He was still furious, though, and Neji recognized that anger. The pain of the victim. He had lost his scapegoat, he felt as Neji had when Hinata had been Searched. Taro turned his glower on Neji.

Neji stared back. "I'm sorry for what happened," he said. "I no longer consider myself part of that family." Taro remained mute.

Naruto backed up slightly to stand next to Neji. His closeness was painful, for it was suddenly, undeniably welcome, but at the same time came the knee-jerk reaction to get away.

Grim, Naruto reached up and undid the knot behind his own head and handed the head band to Neji. Neji took it, eyes meeting Naruto's again, unable to avoid the pull.

Worry, still, and hurt, and sadness, and relief at the defusing of the incident.

Neji felt an ache in his chest and looked away, gaze falling on Jun and Taro. Taro was sitting up now, grimacing as Jun looked at a darkening bruise on his face. Jun stroked a thumb over the bruise, and leaned his forehead against Taro's for a moment. He sighed and pulled back, and it was Taro's unfriendly eyes that made Neji realize he'd been staring. Jun's narrow-eyed glower pinned him next, and Neji tried to return the look evenly.

It was contact like that that they'd been beaten for. It harmed no one and they'd had a strap taken to them. He didn't want to see them hurt. Didn't care that they were two males who loved each other.

Neji's back prickled, even though he hadn't been beaten for the same reason as Jun and Taro. But the memories were strong and chills threaded down his back and met hot disgust in his stomach. Of course he hadn't been. Because he wasn't—he _wasn't_…

_Pull something in two different directions and it tears in two. _

Hyuuga-imposed prejudice and Weyr-offered awareness.

_Which part do you want to be? _

Jun stood up, tugging Taro with him, who rose a little unsteadily. He slung an arm easily around Taro's back, supporting him, and reached his other hand up, fingers out to brush Taro's cheek lightly, and gave Neji a brief look of defiance.

Neji met his eyes, unflinching, but Jun's gaze went to Naruto for a moment with a kind of dry, amused understanding, and he smirked at Neji, eyes darting up to his tattoo for a second.

Neji felt the cloth of Naruto's head band in his hand when his fists clenched. Taking the excuse to break the gaze Neji stared at the floor while he raised Naruto's headband to his forehead.

He might as well still be at Hyuuga after all, he thought dully as he worked the ends of the headband under his hair.

Even here, it was punishing him, shredding every emotion and reaction it disapproved of into raw, hostile guilt.

Silence had fallen and lengthened almost unbearably as they all seemed to wait and watch each other.

"Hoho, I guess we can't have a party without some excitement," came the laconic tones of Weyrlingmaster Kakashi from behind the traders, and everyone jumped slightly, the last of the tension metamorphosing into shared embarrassment for having been caught.

"How right you are, my friend," came Gai's from behind the candidates, "and while we do encourage healthy competition," Gai's voice cooled from it's normal booming cheerfulness, "we don't allow fights."

Neji finished with the knot and tucked his hair behind his ears. "There was no fight, sirs," he said, straightening.

Naruto stared at him. The traders stared at him.

"I knew these two while I still lived at Hyuuga," Neji continued, gesturing at Taro and Jun, "we were only talking about old times."

"I see," Kakashi moved past two of the traders, eyeing them with a stare that made them flatten themselves against the wall. He stuck his hands in his pockets and leaned in to look pointedly at Neji's face, where Neji was quite sure a striking bruise was forming. One of many. "Seems to have been a very... spirited… conversation."

"Yes, sir," Neji said.

"Yes, sir," Jun added.

"I would _love _to speak to them as well, hear all about those wondrous youthful days," Gai said, moving past the clump of candidates and beckoning at the five Sunriver boys. "Why don't you boys come along and introduce me to your families' leader?"

Once Gai had moved out of sight with his gaggle of trader boys, Kakashi didn't bother to play along much longer.

"You are all exceedingly lucky this didn't escalate any farther," Kakashi said, staring everyone down after Gai had herded the traders away. "bad enough you all run to… converse… with visitors to the Weyr," he went on, eyeing them disapprovingly with his single, half-lidded eye, "but someone could have been seriously hurt."

"Yes sir," came a low general murmur.

"Thank the First Egg it defused before we got here, or you'd all be on latrines until you Impressed."

Kakashi dismissed them then, heading back outside to the party. Everyone else began to trickle out after him. Tenten dragging Lee by one arm after Lee announced that he would guard Neji from any more traders until the end of the Tithe. Neji couldn't find it in himself to smile at Lee's promise, but he did appreciate it, even if he didn't want the company.

Naruto hung back, apparently studying the blank wall in front of him.

Neji became aware of the ruined head band he still held, and remembered what he was wearing. He started to reach up and undo the one he wore. Naruto caught the movement and shook his head. "Keep it," he said, not looking at Neji.

"My spare is—" Neji began, uncomfortable.

"Keep it," Naruto repeated, voice low and firm. He turned at last and starting moving away.

"Thank you," Neji said, the words rising urgently, and hating it when they came out clipped and uninflected. But whatever else he'd done, he couldn't just let him go without saying it. Naruto stopped, brought up short.

"Don't mention it," he answered, still facing away. He sounded cautious, as if wary of replying.

There was a long moment of silence, and then Naruto started walking again.

He turned the corner toward the exits, and Neji stared after him, trying to organize his emotions, still unbalanced from the whole encounter.

Neji's panic and fear about his reaction to Naruto was something purely from Hyuuga. He could realize that now. He'd left the place but not the mindset. _Like a beaten dog who can't stop biting people. _

He'd bitten Naruto badly. And yet. Maybe… probably… It seemed like... Naruto had only been pretending indifference all this time. His distance had been an act. Because Neji had said to keep away. _He did what I asked, he just… did what I asked. _

Neji wasn't sure if the tiny spark of hope that set off in him made him feel better or worse about everything. Naruto still watched out for him, indeed seemed to care as much as he ever had.

Except… despite that, Neji couldn't let things return to the way they had been. Finally facing why he had been so horrified and angry all this time wasn't enough to overwhelm the feelings themselves. The fear and distaste and sense of dread… it was almost worse now that he couldn't deny what lay beneath, because he knew, too, that he couldn't face those poisonous emotions down, couldn't pull out the deep roots of his upbringing and feel as unbothered about himself as he did about Lee or Iruka or any other male greenrider.

_Hypocrite. _

_Coward. _

If he was only normal, he whined in his mind, none of this would have happened.

_What's normal at Konoha? You're the strange one, here. No one else cares what you like, only you do. _

And Naruto… Naruto was just waiting, it seemed. Neji wasn't sure if that would end up being rewarded. How was he supposed to solve his reactions? He couldn't stop the lustful thoughts, the arousal, was slowly realizing that would never stop, and yet he couldn't turn off his terrible reaction to it, the horror it kept instilling in him.

He wanted things to be like before. Before their broken friendship, before he'd ever felt anything for Naruto but bemusement, amusement, and the gradual but growing plain, platonic affection.

Couldn't. The bridge could not be uncrossed.

But to be near Naruto now, so hyperaware of him, and torn open constantly by the wrenching conflict of attraction and virulent self-disgust?

How? There was no bridge over that at all. Just a yawning gulf of his own merciless revulsion.

Neji walked back to the dormitory without noticing, his feet following the familiar route, until he sat on his bed in the big, empty room.


	9. Chapter 8 Relative Importance

**Chapter Eight**

At the end of the first week of Neji and Naruto's fourteen-day stint of "hands-on appreciation experience" in Konoha's territory, Neji discovered firsthand that his personal issues were far less all-important than he had so far thought.

Those two weeks saw the first groups of candidates dispatched to crafthalls across the territory, sent to learn about the people they'd be protecting. Lee was at the weaver hall with Hinata. Kiba and Tenten were both at the glasscraft hall. Everyone was somewhere new, learning about the craft of the territory.

Naruto and Neji were at the minercraft hall.

They weren't the only new arrivals there--ten freshly arrived mining apprentices were also getting the same beginner session offered to visiting candidates. They all worked hard, learned the very basics of the work the miners did, from ore grading to land-surveying to mechanical repair to smelting, they were to get an overview of everything.

Including a day down a mineshaft, seeing firsthand how exposed veins were worked. It had been very dirty, but interesting enough.

Until a call of urgent warning from the foreman had summoned everyone out, and a rising, rumbling roar had heralded a flood of stone, shingle and gravel.

They all ran, sometimes hauled bodily by the miners down the twisting, lantern-lit tunnels, and chased by a grating cacophony of rumbles and a cloud of thick, dry dust. When it settled, and they were done coughing, four people were missing.

Two apprentices, one miner and Naruto.

When Neji realized that, everything else he was aware of was tipped unceremoniously into a pit of yawning horror. His very vision seemed to grey a moment. He actually took two steps back towards the dust cloud hanging in the air in front of the shaft before a miner caught him and turned him with an implacable grip. "Nohow, lad, you stay outta our way and let us do th'work."

Snapped out of his useless initial urgency, he was steered towards a large boulder well away from the shaft, where all the apprentices were herded and ordered to stay put, or else, and let the miners do what they could.

Neji stood in a daze by the big rock with the apprentices, many of whom were holding onto each other, and tried to sort out the churn of his insides.

_Wasted. You wasted it. You lost him. _

_And you might have been able to get him back._

After the incident with the traders, Naruto had gradually dropped the blank-faced distance he'd maintained. He'd done it gingerly, and Neji had felt uncertain when he'd first noticed, but Naruto had seemed to watch his reactions and kept the changes minimal, just looking at him during mealtime chatter, as one did when watching reactions to one's words, or starting again to greet him when they met in passing. Neji didn't avoid his gaze anymore, and he replied in kind, though neither did any more than that.

The occasional excess leaked through Naruto's self-control. A bright, completely familiar grin he extended momentarily to Neji during a mealtime conversation at the table, or a fidgety, joyful energy when they ended up in the same group during training or lesson assignments.

He rarely came within arm's length, however, outside training that required contact or chores that forced the proximity, or spoke to him directly.

Neji couldn't let him, couldn't endure the discomfort. Still, when he broke eye contact, shying from the sheer intensity of Naruto's personality, or sidled away when they came too near one another, Naruto couldn't always hide frustration or hurt, and it lodged inside Neji like a cold stone of guilt every time.

After all the misery, all the tension that he now understood, and even after the realization that Naruto had been, the entire time, giving Neji the same steady, trustworthy kindness he'd first shown him back when Neji been struggling with his injuries… for all that, Neji had still not managed to remove the Hyuuga reactions from his own body and mind.

Until right now, as he stood watching the dust waft away from the wall of tumbled stone that sloped from the mouth of the mineshaft..

Because here, now, all he wanted in the world was Naruto, alive. There wasn't a shred of ridiculous lust or stupid fear, just raw, grieving pain for him to simply be alive.

He could only wait.

Within minutes, the minercrafthall watchdragon appeared over head, landing and taking directions from the foreman, the big brown and his rider both. The empty left eye socket explained the brown's watchdragon status, but it didn't prevent him from shifting far more stone than any one human could at a time. His rider, whose leaf headband had been additionally embroidered with the pick of the mining hall, was as able as any of the miners, hauling and digging along with them.

The two apprentices were found two hours later, both at the same time, both unconscious and badly bruised.

By then Neji and the other apprentices had finally been allowed to help, hauling excavated debris away from the mouth of the shaft.

Neji moved without thought, refusing outright to let his mind imagine Naruto's probable fate. The nausea in his stomach and the tightness around his chest were constant, and his mind latched on to the simple motions of loading, hauling and dumping, his senses overly sharp to the acrid dust in the air, the grime coating every inch of exposed skin, grit in his hair, on his eyelashes, the sharp corners of the rocks he piled into the wheelbarrow jabbing through his gloves, the dull clunk and clatter when they were tipped out.

The voices of the miners, directions and questions, sounded offensively matter-of-fact.

Five hours after the collapse, the miner was pulled free, awake, but with a badly broken arm.

There was one more to go.

It had been midmorning when the first rumble of cave-in had started. The oppressively cloudy sky was dimming with the start of early summer's evening when Neji looked up from the stones he was loading when the quiet commotion at the shaft entrance was broken by the foreman's second barking "healer!" Her voice was hoarse, but the relief was easy to hear.

Neji stood fully up, light headed from the abrupt rise, from the lack of midday meal, but most of all from his first glimpse of Naruto, standing up between two miners, not only alive, but awake and moving—mostly—under his own power.

Neji exhaled heavily as he watched him emerged from the mouth of the shaft, supported by the two miners, feeling the sick feeling start to fade, the constriction of his chest start to ease up, only slowly, as though the rest of his body wasn't sure of what his eyes were seeing.

He dropped the rock he held into the wheelbarrow, and leaned down, needing support as his knees wobbled, holding tight to the sides. He began to feel the damp, warm breeze on his face. The overcast sky no longer seemed a stifling weight. Naruto was alive.

There was a slap to his shoulder, a light punch to his arm, gestures of casual comfort from the apprentices nearby. The last one had been found. All four were alive. Neji managed absent nods in response, rising upright again with some difficulty. For a moment it was an effort just to stand.

All he could do was watch Naruto, walking unsteadily with the guidance of the miner, towards where the healer, ferried over by the minercrafthall's watchdragon, was waiting.

He might well have died there, crushed or suffocated, and all Neji could think of was the pointlessness of the past two months, his stubborn error that could've been ended not by him overcoming it, but by him losing any chance to try.

But he had his chance again. The fear of his own reactions be condemned **between**, and all his foolish, useless attempts at ignoring it all as well. Because Naruto was here, he was still alive, and Neji could make things right between them again. He almost couldn't breath with the enormity of it.

Some minor awareness of the sheer selfishness of his reaction filtered through, but he could do nothing about it. The relief was too overwhelming for anything rational or fair.

The watchdragon made ready to transport Naruto back to the hold. The stocky brown dragon now stood where the gravel-covered road that joined mine and hall began snaking through the trees, the one area where he had enough wing clearance to take off. His rider was checking the riding straps, adjusting for Naruto's size. He'd gone and returned three times already, with the apprentices and injured miner.

Neji stayed back, unwilling to interfere with Naruto's care and quick removal from this place. For all his selfish emotion, that much he had control over, because it was clear Naruto had to get back to the hall.

He was coated with gray dust. The dried blood streaking his skin was almost black against his pale face, matting in his hair and staining his torn shirt. He was standing on his own, somehow nothing was broken, but he was bruised everywhere, with arms rigid and hands knotted into fists that pulled his skin too tightly over badly scraped knuckles. A tiny flick of movement caught Neji's eye and he realized blood was dripping slowly from between Naruto's curled fingers.

Deep concern leaching into his relief, Neji caught the blank, strained expression on his Naruto's face. For the first time that Neji could remember, Naruto's eyes drifted from his, only a vague recognition passing through as he looked back at some unseen point before him.

The healer approached, and spoke to Naruto, who replied, gaze shifting with that same strained, overly-controlled blankness. The exchange was inaudible, spoken quietly and too far away, but Neji guessed the healer was checking Naruto for concussion. Satisfied for now, the man lightly probed at the head wound and watched the movement of Naruto's eyes. Neji gleaned from the man's cautiously pleased expression that there appeared to be no apparent damage.

For an instant, Neji was relieved, until he realized that meant Naruto had probably endured that entire time awake. Pinned, in the dark.

The healer then gently raised and uncurled one blood-streaked, sticky fist, then the other. Neji felt bile rise in his throat at the bloodied fingertips and broken nails.

Naruto stared forward, speaking only when spoken to, jaw clenched. He didn't look at the healer again, didn't seem to be looking at anyone, or anything, just steadfastly looking inward. Holding himself together, Neji thought. And far more successfully than Neji would have imagined.

Eight hours under a flood of rock and scree, without even the respite of unconsciousness, and he was holding on to his composure.

He wasn't confined anymore, Neji knew, and that could only help. But so many hours waiting alone, unable to track the passage of time… that was more terrible than any nightmare. There was no waking, and no foreseeable end.

"Alright, brats, back to work," the foreman chivvied the gaggle of apprentices, and Neji, along, tone sympathetic but firm. "We got to get all the gear back together and stowed for the way back. Ye'll want to get back to see yer pals sooner rather'n'later, me lads an' lasses. Hurry it up!"

Naruto would be up a-dragonback in a moment and headed back to the minercrafthall to have his injuries treated.

Neji tore his gaze away with difficulty, and got back to work with the rest on gathering up the gear they had brought with them that morning. It was a safer and simpler job than that of the miners themselves, who were starting to clear the shaft blockage faster now that there was no risk of harming someone trapped within, and determine the instability, but it all seemed impossibly tedious and long.

It was past dark when they arrived back at the hold. They'd marched the long trail, pausing briefly for a few moments to pass around meat-stuffed buns and water skins, and when they finally reached their destination, Neji and the apprentices were a sorry lot next to the work-hardened miners, staggering from the main entry to the hold's guestroom hallways when they were finally dismissed.

Neji was leaning heavily on the door as he let himself into his and Naruto's little guest room. The glowbasket was uncovered, filling the space with soft, warm light. Naruto was fast asleep on his bed. He lay on his side, covers drawn well up over his shoulders. The blood and dust had been cleaned away, and a bandage around his head secured a dressing to the cut on his hairline. He looked like he'd struck his head on a shelf, not been buried in an avalanche.

If only.

Neji wished, not for the first time today, that he and Naruto had drawn different lots for their time away. Weavercraft hall, animal healer hall, anything.

But then someone else could have been caught down there instead.

Sighing shakily, Neji stepped over and slid back the edge of the cover to where Naruto's hands were pulled close to his chest. His knuckles were wrapped, and a few fingertips on each hand were taped over. The rest bore small cuts and scrapes. But even that looked much better than it had.

Seeing him now was a relief almost as strong as when he'd emerged from the collapsed shaft.

To think he'd been nervous that they shared a guest room, just the two of them. And then all their previous nights here at the hall, it had turned out that he'd been too tired from the hard work for anything to stop him from falling asleep.

Now the guilty relief his tiredness had allowed him was nowhere to be found, only deep, staggering gratitude.

Naruto was sleeping soundly, and that was reassuring, but as Neji removed his jacket and tunic, he saw the bottle on the nightstand, next to the cup that belonged with the water pitcher on the dresser, and a jar of numbweed salve. The small bottle bore the distinctive berry-bunch stamp that marked fellis juice containers across the world. It was a single-dose bottle, enough to send one person to sleep, and was empty when Neji shook it experimentally. Better drugged than none, Neji supposed, Naruto's body needed the rest.

Neji gathered his towel and soap and left quietly to finally wash the dust and stress of the day away.

The bathing room he entered was full, but far quieter than was normal for so many occupants. Everyone was thoroughly exhausted, and only interested in getting clean, and getting sleep. Just about the only words spoken were muttered, thankful comments that tomorrow was a restday.

So it was, Neji realized. And he suspected he'd need the time to recover right along with Naruto.

Firmly wringing out his hair one final time, tiredly glad to feel free of the clinging grime, he tied it back for sleep and made his way back to the guest quarters.

As he entered his and Naruto's room for the second time, his heart sank.

Naruto's dose of fellis juice had sent him to sleep. It hadn't drugged him past dreaming.

He was in the throes of a nightmare that looked far worse than the one Neji had seen before. Tear tracks were shining wetly down his temples from the corners of his eyes, and he was choking panicked noises behind clenched teeth, struggling against nonexistent confinement.

Neji stared for an instant, shock bolting him in place. It had been so long; Naruto hadn't had a nightmare since the end of Neji's night shift, months ago now. But he'd been here alone, and remorse clawed at Neji for having been so neglectful.

A panicked whine came with the next gasp, and Neji threw his towel-wrapped bundle on his bed and moved to Naruto's. Ignoring the automatic mental admonition against contact, he rested his hand firmly on Naruto's shoulder, and gave him a gentle shake.

Naruto erupted out of the dream, scrambling into a sitting position, shoulders heaving. Heat poured off him, a sheen of sweat glistened on his exposed skin, and his shirt was sticking to him in places. And yet he was shaking as though he was chilled.

He pulled in a ragged gasp and, as Neji had expected, latched on to the hand on his shoulder with a death-grip.

And then he let go.

He froze, swallowed, then yanked his hand off and pulled it down to his lap, hunching forward over his knees.

For a moment Neji thought it was because of pain in his fingers, but then, "sorry," came Naruto's voice, a gasp of sound, and Neji was left hovering, staring at his shuddering back, chest clenching with guilt. Naruto was still trying to give Neji the space he'd demanded.

And it hurt more than Neji could have imagined, regret at all the lost time battering deep into him. He'd never seen himself as comforting, but he had never forgotten Naruto's gratitude after that other nightmare Neji had witnessed. And today, his presence was actually worsening the aftermath.

Neji couldn't think of what to say. He watched Naruto shudder, and tried to decide if he should simply leave the room. It might not improve things, but Neji couldn't bear the thought of making it any worse than he had already.

"Fucking… dark," Naruto muttered thickly, "Thought I'd gone… insane. Sometimes I thought I was back there. No one knew where—no one—"

Neji could only imagine the experience of being trapped in an inescapable space, where no one could hear you calling to be let out. No one caring to look. For hours and hours and hours. The ache grew in his chest. "We knew," he replied, his voice coming out rough.

Naruto shivered. His hands came up to rub roughly at his face, scrubbing at his cheeks before pushing the heels of his hands against his eyes. He reached further up and gripped fistfuls of hair as if he could yank the memories out of his head, letting go almost instantly with a hiss of pain, shaking his hands in frustrated disgust. Then he was scrambling up, throwing back the twisted covers and rising to his feet. He shoved past Neji and staggered out the door.

A door to the outside wasn't far, and Neji was relieved that there was no one outside the rooms between theirs and the door. Without thinking, he kept after Naruto's uneven stride down the narrow hall, staying a few paces behind, until they got to the exit.

The rushing sound of rain wafted in as Naruto pulled the door open, letting in the cool, wet smell of the rear courtyard's stony ground and the sound of heavy rain. Neji lunged forward and slid out the door to grab for Naruto before he left the shelter of the overhang outside.

He got fistfuls of sweat-damp shirt, plenty to stop Naruto before he went headlong into the wet night.

His movement checked suddenly, Naruto stumbled back against Neji's chest. He abruptly sagged, as though his momentum had been the only thing keeping him upright, and Neji brought his arms up, holding onto the warm, solid weight. Neji sank to his knees as Naruto's legs gave out fully, lowering them both and hanging on tight, holding Naruto's shivering back against his chest. Naruto shuddered, hands rising again to his head, wounded fingertips hovering before his hands dropped in frustration, and Neji shifted and pulled him closer.

There was no sound but the rain. This small doorway had no lantern, the only light coming from around the still-open door, and a dim, rain-shrouded lantern that hung somewhere on the other side of the small courtyard. A breeze intermittently carried a light mist of rain into the door's alcove, along with scents of mud and damp leaves. Unmistakably outside, and that was the important part.

Neji settled further onto the cool stone paving. Naruto was warm and heavy, and Neji held him firmly, one arm across his chest, the other lower over his belly. He was breathing hard under Neji's grip, but not struggling, and before long his hands rose to close gingerly on the arm over his chest. For a moment, despite the pain, he tightened his grip and clung, holding his breath. He eased up finally when he exhaled, a long, uneven sigh.

"Is this far enough?" Neji asked quietly. Naruto's hair brushed against his face. He barely needed to speak above a whisper, even over the rain, Naruto's ear was so close. "I'll get our cloaks if you want to go farther out."

There was a long, uncertain silence. Then, "Nah… 's enough," Naruto answered, voice a strained mixture of relief and bewilderment. He was leaning fully back against Neji. And Neji was glad of it. The weight of Naruto against him was strange, and he knew it should be bothering him, but right now it was the most reassuring confirmation of Naruto's safety that he could possibly have asked for, and that drove any uneasiness at their closeness from his mind altogether.

Neji simply waited, ignoring the wet chill seeping into his legs and his still-damp hair. Naruto must be even more uncomfortable, half-sprawled on the cold stone cobbles, but he didn't seem concerned with physical discomfort right now. His breathing eventually slowed, his grip eased, and at last he sighed a little, settling deeper into Neji's arms before pushing himself upright and getting somewhat clumsily to his feet. Neji did likewise. A fine shiver ran down Naruto's frame, from real cold this time, and Neji pulled the door open to let Naruto precede him into the hold.

They walked silently back to their room. Neji watched Naruto's shivering back, his own mind churning with uncertainty and worry.

When the door closed behind them, Naruto moved to stand by his bed. The goosebumps on his exposed skin hadn't yet smoothed away. He leaned over to grab his tangled covers in both hands and shake them loose. Neji found himself simply standing and watching, and came back to himself with a start. He went to his own bed, distractedly putting the folded towels and clothing where they belonged, and drawing the covers back halfway.

When he looked back around Naruto, he was surprised to see him still standing. The covers were lying flat now, if off-center, but Naruto made no move to get under them. He was hunched slightly, hands rubbing at his arms.

Neji had to consciously do it this time, but the slight hesitation he felt was utterly demolished by the memory of the mineshaft accident. He crossed the narrow space between them and pulled Naruto backward into his arms. He hugged him to his chest once again, feeling the minute shivers that still ran down his back.

"Fuck," Naruto swore, head hanging. The relief in his voice so vast and so grateful that Neji felt an answering twist in his chest. "Thank you."

Neji took a slow step back, still holding firmly, and Naruto stumbled slightly but moved with him, grabbing awkwardly to hold on. Another step, and another, and Neji could sit them both on his bed.

"As long as you want," Neji said. He wasn't letting go until Naruto did.

Naruto shifted, not settling, "Yeah but… you don't like…"

"That…" Neji said, more aware than ever of the warm, solid body his arms encircled. The feeling was still unnerving, but also… wonderful. It was mostly comfort and safety and plain relief just now, but Neji could also feel the persistent desire singing a low and joyful thrum at the current proximity. It should have had him shoving Naruto away, but it didn't, it was just there. "That has been placed into very clear perspective."

"Huh," Naruto exhaled tiredly. He let Neji pull him in all the way, then inched back as close as he could against him, and Neji reflexively dreaded the effort it would take to ignore this memory. Then, so very tired and fed up of that reaction, he changed his mind. No more of that. No more ignoring it.

Here he was clutching Naruto closely enough for their pose to be a lovers' embrace. Intrigued, he let his mind just feel the stirrings that Naruto's proximity couldn't help but cause. And… the little curls of instinctive desire… stayed controllable. They didn't grow to terrible and frightening heights. Was it his exhaustion? Or just his decision not to fight it? Neji couldn't tell. But the glow of attraction had simply settled, a content but mild physical response.

And he found he could just simply deflect it aside, restrain it—because they were candidates still, and even without that rule, he still wasn't sure how to act on it, or if he could—but without hiding any of it from himself. Like taking a breath to let annoyance or inappropriate mirth defuse.

His cheek resting lightly in Naruto's hair, he knew, he understood, he finally really felt… it wasn't wrong or any such thing. It _wasn't_. It was against the rules just now, and he was in fact grateful for that, but it wasn't bad or harmful or disgusting. No way could it ever be, this massive swell of gratitude that Naruto was alive, and that Neji could reach out and touch him.

And acknowledgement was mind-bogglingly easier than desperate repression._ Hear_ _"don't think of pink dragons,"_ his mind supplied the old saying, _and you imagine nothing else. _

He'd spent so much effort panicking, all that time, he hadn't realized how he was overreacting. If he'd had any sense before, he would have dwelled less on the contacts and more on their contexts, and saved himself and Naruto a good deal of anguish, and, he thought, Naruto heavy and tense in his arms, time.

There was a still niggling discomfiture at the edge of his thoughts, but it was bearable. That balance would probably shift closer to his old patterns as the urgency of tonight's circumstances faded, but… Neji would deal with that when it happened. It helped that he was too tired for his mind become very agitated. This would likely seem much more difficult tomorrow, but he would face it. No more hiding from nothing.

They sat. Neji shifted further back after a while, pulling them both fully onto the bed so he could lean against the wall and let Naruto lean against him. Naruto's heartbeat thudded under Neji's palm, still faster than it should be, breath still coming too quickly, his body still tight as a tuned string, but ever so gradually relaxing.

"You should sleep," Naruto said after a while, though most of him was still tense, and suppressed shudders rattled through him every so often. Despite his words he didn't move, or let up the pressure his arms were exerting on the one Neji had across his chest.

"So should you," Neji returned, equally unmoving, "you're injured."

"Yeah…" Naruto's tone was tired, tense, resigned. It was easily interpreted, as was the unrelenting grip on Neji. Even exhausted as he was, Naruto didn't expect to sleep. But he _had _been relaxing, slowly.

The real problem, Neji was quite certain, was that Naruto wouldn't fall asleep if he lay alone. If he could pull his hand from Neji's arm when he wanted contact most desperately, he could let go now. But, just as his releasing Neji before had in no way meant he was unafraid, his pulling away now didn't mean he was relaxed enough to let sleep come over him.

And indeed, Naruto lowered his grip from Neji's arm, failing to hide his reluctance, and pulled forward, starting to go to his own bed. Neji wouldn't have it. If Naruto could be single-minded about help, so could he. He ignored the minor attack of nerves occurring in the back of his mind.

He tugged Naruto firmly back. "Sleep here," he said quietly, "We'll share."

Naruto was still for a long moment.

"Yeah, that'd be good," he finally answered, hands fidgeting against Neji's arm. Naruto had apparently recovered enough to be embarrassed at his weakness. Neji decided that was a good sign.

Neji let go then, and Naruto lay down on his side, curling up slightly. Neji reached over him for the glowbasket on the table, then paused.

"You can cover it," Naruto muttered, turning his face into the pillow, and Neji did. He lay down himself, drawing the covers up as he did. He was unsure for a moment how to lie, then simply tucked one arm under the pillow, and slid the other back around Naruto.

They both shifted for a few moments until they were comfortable. Naruto held Neji's arm tight to his chest, and Neji closed his eyes and concentrated on relaxing. He could still feel Naruto's heartbeat, and the rise and fall of his chest with each breath. It was reassuring and discomfiting at once, and suddenly far more intimate in the dark. Neji did his best to focus on the relief instead of the either the unease or the still-unnerving warmth of desire.

It was a long time before Naruto's body eased into sleep, but it was finally slack under Neji's arm, the occasional quiet snore breaking the room's quiet.

Neji's mind was bleary, exhausted, but even with his body's reasonable and muted reaction Neji was completely unused to sharing his sleeping space with another. The curtains in the barracks back at the Weyr served very well to muffle the presence of others at night. And to suddenly lie with someone like this was incredibly distracting.

Naruto felt good so close to him, Neji thought sleepily, he was solid and warm and... safe and alive… and Neji could even tighten his arm, make the pressure of their bodies leaning into one another into a hug, and the thought contented him. But the tiny movements Naruto made, the sounds of his sleep, were no longer as familiar to Neji as they'd been when they'd shared quarters and kept him floating in a half-doze until his body finally overruled his brain and drew him into sleep.

* * *

_Warm, _was Naruto's first impression as he woke, followed immediately by _fucking ouch_. The swollen, fiery pain in his fingers, accompanied by bruised aches and twinges all over his body and a low, throbbing headache, made him grumble low in his throat. Bending one arm gingerly, he felt the edge of the mattress as his left elbow poked outward, cool air wafting up suddenly as the cover was lifted away from the side, and wondered why he'd slept so close to the edge of his bed.

His bed? No, this… The other sensations of his body finally caught up as well. Naruto was on his back and nestled to the right, where all down his side was extra body heat. His eyes popped open and he looked over and saw, in the dim light coming through the small window above the table, Neji's shoulders and the dull-lit gloss of his loosely tied hair.

Because he was in Neji's bed. That empty one over there was his. His drowsy mind tried to catch up with the visual and physical stimuli. Though he faced away from Naruto, Neji was pressed closely against him from shoulder to knee, with his legs bent back so that one of Neji's feet was hooked over Naruto's shin.

For a moment he felt more wonderful than he ever had. Until he remembered why he was here.

Because yesterday… his mind shied and flooded with panic as he remembered the rumble and roar of loose stone and the immobilizing weight of it all around him. Recollection resurfaced like a bubble bursting. A stomach-twisting chill descended jaggedly through him and Naruto closed his eyes, squeezing until his face hurt, and inched closer against the warmth at his side, wrestling with the strangling black fear.

The walls _weren't _too close, the air _wasn't _going bad, and he _wasn't _… he_ wasn't alone. _

He could feel Neji breathing, feel his long, strong body right up against his own.

Like last night. Neji had freed him from his nightmare, and then followed him outside. He remembered the rain. And then Neji had held him, and again, in here, and let him stay close. And that memory was enough to let him beat back the fear.

As it ebbed, it was replaced with a reluctant realization that he couldn't stay where he was. The longing to burrow close against Neji was near to overwhelming, and below the ebbing fear was an altogether different kind of longing, not to burrow but to slide and touch and tangle and… he exhaled slowly. No matter what the perspective was that Neji had said he'd gained, Naruto was not about to risk spooking him, or violate the rules any more than they already had. They were only lucky the minerhall didn't do bed checks.

He levered himself awkwardly into a sitting position, biting back curses as he bumped his fingers or flexed an aching muscle and tried to keep the bed from shifting and the covers from letting the air in. He managed to get to his feet and totter like an old man across the chilly floor to his own bed. He fumbled for the numbweed jar on the table.

When he looked up from fighting with the jar and the tape on his fingers and the salve jar, he saw Neji had turned over and was watching him.

"Sleep well?" Neji murmured, concern readable in his sleep-softened eyes.

"Yeah," Naruto replied, surprised to realize it, after the rougher awakening, "Um… you?"

"It was… intermittent for some time. I've never slept in such proximity to—another—" Neji's eyes closed and he hid a yawn under the covers.

Naruto had a moment of chagrined guilt, but then Neji re-emerged, frowning, and sat up, shaking his head in a silent dismissal of the reaction. "I am not any the worse for wear," he said, meeting Naruto's eyes with an even stare, and he was suddenly… normal again. The way he'd gotten after he'd eased into Weyr life, and before Naruto had frightened him off. He looked calm, and very tired, but not nervous at all. The suppressed strain and chilly wariness Naruto had felt from Neji during their alienation was gone, and the air between them clear again.

Well, Neji wasn't completely normal. He looked pretty rough, actually, exhausted. And that was because he'd slept badly… because he'd slept next to another man… but, unlike anything Naruto would formerly have expected, Neji didn't seem to be bothered about that little detail.

Naruto was profoundly grateful for _that_ change. It meant Neji had accepted something in himself, maybe even about himself, though Naruto thought that last part might take a bit longer. But simple physical closeness with another male wasn't threatening to him anymore.

It was a happy thing, Neji would be much more comfortable with himself and others from now on. He might relapse again, but he'd know, now, that he could handle it. Surviving sleeping next to another male in a bed made for one was pretty good proof of that.

"Well, it's restday, so you can sleep in," he said a little tentatively, restrained by his self-consciousness after last night.

Neji nodded once, pale eyes slightly smudged with lack of sleep. "Possibly," he replied, "but I'd prefer to breakfast with you."

Naruto felt a surge of warmth at that, "Well, I need to report to the infirmary, so they can check me again. Maybe they'll give me a massage too," he winced as he stood, "I have aches you wouldn't believe."

Neji's eyes darkened with remembered horror as fresh as Naruto's felt. "I would," was all he said.

"…Yeah," Naruto looked to the side and felt his heart speed up again. His voice had come out in a grim, uncomfortable tone. He clenched his jaw and forced down the reaction again. He found it wasn't so hard as it might have been.

He looked up again, his and Neji's eyes meeting in silent mutual acknowledgement of yesterday's events, and Naruto fully understood that the whole event really had been a massive shock to Neji as well. Their fears had been very different, but it looked like Neji had his own reasons for having been so willing to hold onto Naruto last night. He felt a confused amazement that someone would feel so strongly about him that it could overcome such deeply ingrained intolerance.

Wincing, he pulled a tunic over his night shirt and stepped into his boots. "Well," he said, voice almost normal again, "I'll come back here before I eat."

On the heels of the serious moment, however, worry drifted into him while he kicked the toe of his boots lightly against the floor, getting his foot all the way in. He stood for a moment, shifted once, and had to ask. "You really good with… last night?"

"Yes," Neji's reply was without hesitation. And, then, to Naruto's surprise, "and you?"

"Me?" Naruto said, "I—you—" _you don't want to know how much, _he thought. "Yeah," he answered finally, grateful that that was as much detail as they were going to speak of. "I'll, uh, see you later."

Neji nodded once, and Naruto smiled at him again—gratitude, affection—and left.

* * *

Neji watched the door close, the wood creaking just slightly, and lay back. He felt… relaxed. More so than he'd ever been. He remembered everything about the night before. And he still wasn't in crisis over it. The lack of panic and anxiety was incredibly pleasant. It wasn't all gone; the old reaction was there, a reflex, a small part of his mind blanched and horrified at his descent into 'vile perversion.' But it was strangely, wonderfully, _completely _impotent, and he realized after a moment exactly why.

As innocuous as their sharing the bed had been (_this time_, part of his mind added slyly, while another part predictably panicked at the implication), it would have been dire at Hyuuga. But now it had happened, and there was no risk _at all _of pain-filled punishment hanging over him, no one with a strap and a rope to bind his hands. Just his own leftover family prejudices. Without the family to enforce it.

Eventually, even that would pass.

To use a phrase Naruto would have relished… fuck the Hyuuga.

Neji rolled over onto the spot Naruto where had lain, still warm from his presence, vaguely scented of him, and let sleep come over him again, through a great, airy contentment. He had Naruto back. Their friendship was mended. And the rest… was no longer a crushing burden of self-conscious and frightened disgust. It _was_ there, yes, and it was still daunting. Lust and attraction… it still made him uncertain, uncomfortable. But he and Naruto were candidates. It would be a long time until he could even act on any such feelings. Plenty of time, then, to get used to them.

And until then, he was very content with being able to eat and talk and work with Naruto as closely as he'd been missing.

* * *

The return to the Weyr was met with relief by all involved. All the candidates had been packed off to crafthalls, and they'd all been put to hard work. Naruto was the only one to come back with injuries, though, and that made for some interested table discussion during everyone's first meal back together, though he maintained that he didn't remember much.

The next most repeated story was Lee's, who'd been to the clothcraft hall, and gotten into a dye-related accident that had turned an entire set of green clothing splotchy black and brown… as well as Lee's skin—though temporarily, in that case. Some of it was still visible on his hands, but Lee was mainly in mourning for the green belt, an item he'd only recently found at a gather market.

"Just like Master Gai's, and now it's ruined," he sighed, utterly woebegone, "a tragic waste, I tell you. I _must _find an exact replica."

People were rising from the table, midday meal done with, and Naruto leaned over to clap a morose Lee on the shoulder as he gathered his plates. "I'll keep an eye out," he promised, meaning it despite his amusement at the degree of Lee's depression.

Neji rose as well, joining them from the end of the table, where he'd been stuck with some of the newer candidates, coming in slightly late from his morning chores. Naruto hadn't had time to save him a place next to him, Kiba and Ino sitting next to him first. Kiba was still there, Hinata on his other side, and Shino beyond her, all just finishing their meals.

Lee exchanged surprised glances with three of them as Naruto grinned at Neji. "How were the stables?"

Neji shrugged. "Dirty," he replied. "But sacking firestone this afternoon won't be much better."

"Ah, the smell of sulfur and burlap in the afternoon…" Naruto singsonged as they wandered off together to leave their plates on the washing-up racks. He glanced over his shoulder once to see all four of the other candidates staring after the pair of them.

Neji turned back too, seeing the surprise on their faces and raising an eyebrow at Naruto, amusement tugging just slightly at the corners of his mouth.

Naruto shrugged, grinned at his friends, and turned back to Neji, jerking his head towards the doors. "Let's get our gear."

"Finally!" Lee's exclamation carried after them. Naruto stuck his hands in his pockets and held his head up high, shooting a smile at Neji, who returned it with a pleasant nod.

_Yep,_ he thought. _Finally_.

They crossed the mouth of the larger hatching cavern on their way to the firestone storage area, and Naruto caught a glimpse of the gold dozing inside, keeping watch over the eggs. A month until the hatching. And then, would their little group still be together? Would he and Neji, or any of them, still have any time for one another?

The dragons decided that, and no one else.


	10. Chapter 9 The Attack

**Chapter Nine: The Attack**

With three weeks to go before the hatching, another kind of excitement was buzzing through the candidates. It was midsummer, and it was Egg Gift week.

This year it was Konoha's turn to receive candidates from other Weyrs as part of a longstanding cross-territory tradition. It was mostly ceremonial, harking back to ancient times when fledgling Weyrs in newly settled territories needed candidates from older Weyrs still nurturing their own populations. Each one would send a few, a gift for the eggs.

Nowadays, well-established populations allowed riders, candidates and staff to be shifted without strain. Grand Line's recent founding hadn't made a dent. The exchanges were now just signs of good faith between distant allies in the same fight.

The Egg Gift visitors this year were new faces, and that was no surprise, but the candidates were from all the familiar Weyrs. Taki. Ame. Kusa.

But this year, there was also… Suna.

Master Hayate had given them another protocol lecture, and posted a list of the visitors. Suna had stood out to Naruto on the list, and the candidates from there stood out when they'd arrived, as well.

The three Suna candidates made little attempt to mingle with the rest. The two older ones, blond, serious Temari, and arrogant, face-painted Kankurou, stuck stubbornly by the youngest one, a red-haired, slender boy with dark rings around his eyes.

The older two seemed… slightly hostile, behind a veil of tolerable manners. They spoke with arrogant airs, and played the organized sports with focused competitiveness. Unpleasant, yes, but relatively normal… however, the little one definitely wasn't.

The red-haired boy, Gaara, carried a huge gourd with him wherever he went, slung at his back. He rarely spoke. The oddest part, though, was the way both of his two apparent bodyguards seemed… afraid of him.

Then, on the second day of the week-long event, Naruto found Kankuro pinning Konohamaru, Naruto's favourite weyrbrat, against the wall outside the second bathing room.

"Hey!" Naruto didn't bother with more than that as a warning, and threw himself bodily at the Suna candidate. He found himself rolled smoothly onto his back with disturbing ease, and wrestled hard to get back on top. "What the fuck, man? He's just a brat, what's your problem?"

Kankuro shoved him off and stood up, straightening his tunic and hood. He glowered at them both. "He was following me," was all he said, and went into the bathing room without another word, and shut the door behind him.

Naruto got up and turned to Konohamaru. "I'm fine," he shrugged Naruto's concern off. "I really don't like them, though. They're fucking freaky."

"Language," Naruto replied absently, bonking Konohamaru on the head and staring at the closed door. He was glad the Suna freaks were in a guest room, and not housed in empty dorm beds like some of the other visiting candidates. "Leave him alone, will you? All of them."

It didn't take much longer for the rest of the candidates to leave them alone, too.

But there were games scheduled each day for the whole week, and dislike spread among all the candidates as the Suna three kept… winning, efficiently, ruthlessly, and with nothing anyone could interpret as actual enjoyment.

Everyone was soon giving them the cold shoulder, and they right back. Naruto was relieved when the last day arrived.

The farewell event was an outside meal. The sky was obligingly clear, and long tables were hauled out to the bowl and set with a fine buffet of Konoha's territory's fare. It went as well as could be expected, considering the obvious distace everyone was keeping between themselves and the Suna candidates.

Naruto dragged his eyes off the trio, who had had a strange air of anticipation all day. Maybe they wanted to leave. Naruto could understand that—he wanted them to leave too. He looked at Sakura instead, who sat across from him, and grinned, dredging up a pun he knew would make her groan and roll her eyes. "Hey, hey. Sakura, did you hear about the guy whose whole left side was cut off? He's all right now." She did just as he'd predicted, and he chortled. Then he heard a muffled chuckle from next to him, and guffawed.

Neji, trying to salvage his dignity, tried to pretend he hadn't laughed at all, but Naruto grinned with delight. "Neji—old healers never die. They just lose their patients."

Having expected another pun, Neji didn't let himself laugh aloud, but his mouth quirked into a nearly proper smile for a moment, and Naruto gave him a joyful nudge. Making Neji smile made everything better, and Naruto did his best to do it again as they ate.

The high didn't last for long. Perhaps half an hour into the meal, the rise and fall of candidate conversation was silenced when the watchdragon roared loud enough to shake the bowl, the sound clear to all those who knew dragons as one of fury.

The ensuing dead silence seemed to encompass the entire bowl. Every dragon on the rim and on the ledges was poised, every human still and waiting, and then the sky was booming and screaming with the sound of angry dragons as the fighting wings of Konoha threw themselves airborne only an instant before the sky above them was filled with strangers.

Then it was chaos.

Riders appeared on their ledges and running from the baths and the dining hall, dragons swooped low, vanished and appeared willy-nilly as some riders mounted and shot upward, others stood earthbound and shouting at their partners who wouldn't come down to carry their riders into danger.

The candidates shouted and pointed. Naruto leaped up onto the bench, shielding his eyes and squinting up, trying to see—but no, it couldn't be—he shook his head and looked again at the maelstrom of dragons overhead. There a brown was snapping at a blue, there two greens were chasing a junior queen, there two blues were locked in a strange parody of a mating, falling, until they parted with ichor dripping from each one's claws.

One tenor bugle cut through the candidates' confusion, Umith's familiar voice jerking Naruto's attention back to earth. Half the group was standing on benches as he was, others clinging to one another. Sakura and Ino were holding hands, Kiba and Shino flanked Hinata, Chouji was standing up next to a still-seated, transfixed Shikamaru.

Umith landed riderless. Iruka was here, had been seated among the Candidates. Geth and Shirath were on her tailtip, and Hayate and Genma mounted up.

"Get into the hatching ground!" Iruka shouted, "The hatching ground!" He repeated his words, but they were drowned out by the rapidly rising volume of the candidates' agitation. Geth and Hayate took off. Shirath and Genma remained flying protective circles overhead, but Umith stayed hovering low, still waiting for her rider to finish his work.

The candidates weren't cooperating, Naruto one of many who kept stopping to look upward, and she got impatient._ MOVE! _came a voice like a mental blow, and every candidate flinched as Umith was driven to speaking to them herself. And move they did, at last shifting in a hurried disorganized mass that hitched and stumbled as people kept stopping to look up. Umith was unrelenting, hovering just overhead and actually snapping at anyone who lagged too far behind.

They all stopped, though, when golden Katsuyuth shot from the mouth of the hatching cavern and launched her great bulk almost vertically upward, eyes red and jaws gaping, to join the others, her fury heightened by the threat to her eggs. Tsunade had to be just as furious, wherever she was, but Katsuyuth didn't look like she'd be coming back down, even for her rider.

Then Iruka towed and pushed and chivvied and despite the exertion, his face was leached of colour when he finally got everyone under the roof of the hatching cavern. Then Umith landed, and he mounted, and they were gone.

Naruto fell onto a bleacher in the first row, staring around him at the group, though his gaze kept being drawn outside and up to the narrow, still-visible strip of sky. His chest pounded with the horrifying amazement of what was happening. The candidates around him were in a tight group, a knot of tense and uncertain fear. Naruto tightened his hands around the edge of the bleacher bench, resisting the urge to hug himself. For a moment the high cavern ceiling seemed far too low and a wash of terror unrelated to the hostile dragons made him shudder and he jerked against his own grip on the bench. Weight settled next to him and Neji was there, and beyond him Lee.

Before it got any worse, a distraction derailed his fear and sent wary territoriality spinning off instead.

Gaara had left the huddle, walking slowly and purposefully along the length of the dividing wall that separated the stands from the sands.

"Hey, come back!" Naruto snapped, "We're supposed to stay here!"

There was no reaction to his words, and Gaara reached the edge of the wall and moved onto the sands, heading for the eggs that rested on the other end of the sands, unguarded by their mother.

"Hey! Hey!!" Multiple voices took up the warning then.

Lee leaped up from his seat, vaulted over the it and ran to Gaara, grabbing his arm. "We're not allowed here yet, fellow candidate, but you only need to be patient and—oof!" Lee's earnest, diplomatic babble was cut off as Gaara twisted his arm and then deftly tripped Lee, all without breaking stride.

Naruto had one leg over the wall when Lee glanced back and waved him down, frowning at Gaara determinedly. Naruto cursed and shook his head and then did a double take when he realized Neji was at the wall next to him. Neji's pale eyes twitched towards him, his face grim with worry, and they both looked back at the faceoff.

The Suna boy made it only a few more steps before Lee bounded in front of him, standing resolutely between Gaara and the eggs.

"We need to go sit with the others, as our kind Master Iruka instructed," he said, hands out in a placating gesture, his polite words falling utterly flat in the face of Gaara's approach.

"Move," Gaara said, voice devoid of anger, or even annoyance, but chilled with pure threat. Naruto frowned then, grip tightening on the wall. Gaara was short and thin, and didn't look particularly strong. Lee was skinny too, but tough and agile ("Just like great Master Gai!") and stubborn as a mule. Whatever Gaara was up to, Lee could probably take him, but…

Staring blankly at Lee for a few moments when he didn't budge, Gaara seemed to realize Lee wasn't moving. He stepped back once, twice, kept moving back, and Naruto nodded, relieved.

Lee started to grin, and then Gaara spoke again, reaching back to pluck the cork from his gourd. "Move."

Fire lizards slithered from the gourd, one, three, five, then too many to count as more appeared from **between**, swirling like sand in water, like they were one motion, small wings beating in perfect synch, eyes bright red, tiny jaws gaping. They appeared until a cloud of claws and teeth hung around Gaara. The crowd of candidates variously gasped and cried out. Lee took a step back, staring, more shocked than anything else, and then they came for him.

Arms folded, gaze still flat, Gaara stayed impassive while the swarm shot forward and coalesced on Lee, who first batted at them, then staggered back, and then they were clinging to one arm and one leg, moving like crawling maggots.

Gaara extended one arm, and closed his fist.

Lee fell back and let out a yell that sharpened to a scream as the fire lizards' motion changed, and they started to bite.

Shouts of horror came from the stands behind Naruto, but he couldn't find the voice for his own. "Lee!" Tenten screamed, and then it turned to chaos.

Naruto went over the wall with Neji right beside him. From the corner of his eye he saw Kiba fling Akamaru into the air. The fire lizard vanished. Naruto was shoved aside as Neji thudded to the ground under Kankuro. Naruto snarled and launched himself forward, and was rolled over just as easily as last time, but only for a second. A blur of grey jacket and Shino had an arm around Kankuro's neck. Naruto scrambled out from under him and loked over his shoulder.

Kankurou turned and flipped Shino over his head, landing him with a heavy thud on the warm sand. Kiba ran at him and Kankurou shoved him back,

Tenten was leaning against the wall, starting to rise again, Temari in front of her. Shikamaru leaped over the wall and dropped in a roll, coming up to fling sand at her face, but she raised her arm in time, and shook the rest from her hair with grim determination.

In that quick glance back it looked to Naruto like the two older Suna candidates were trying to stop anyone from getting very far past the wall.

Some fire lizards broke from the main swarm to harry everyone else, and candidates ducked and yelled and fled the piercing, ripping claws and teeth. The swarming flitters were a much more effective barrier than the Kankurou and Temari.

Naruto looked for the one causing all the havoc.

Gaara was walking slowly forwards, arms loose at his sides. He looked almost asleep, and what that meant, Naruto couldn't imagine. There was nothing about this boy that was normal.

He ran at Gaara, was met by a sudden wall of needle-sharp claws. He threw his arms up in front of his face and shoved through, feeling claws tear into his forearms, shoulders, legs. Squinted only enough to see shapes, he finally lunged for the largest one.

Gaara folded under his tackle like an empty set of clothing, tumbling down easily, and Naruto stared down into astonished green eyes.

"What are you _doing??_" he shouted. Gaara just looked at him, surprise fading into disinterest.

"We are to take the eggs," Gaara said, his voice an audible shrug as he offered information he clearly thought was no longer particularly valuable.

"How can you want to do this?" Naruto shouted at him, hunching under the sudden piercing of a multitude of points on his back, suddenly glad to have a focus for his fear and fury at the attacking dragons overhead. "How can you hurt people like THAT? Call them off!" he bellowed, thumping Gaara's head against the sand.

"Why?" Gaara replied, voice disturbingly even. "People are there to hurt." And Naruto was suddenly conscious of the dots of blood staining his shirt, the little needle-darts of pain from every tiny wound. "It's life," Gaara said, "hurting others. Everything else is false," He blinked his black-bordered eyes. "They made me, they keep me, but they don't want me. False. But pain is always true."

Those black rings were tattoos, Naruto realized for the first time. Just like his. Someone had _done this to Gaara._ And Gaara's was voice calm and even, tone empty of caring or concern or… anything. Naruto's fury redoubled, the horror of the situation compounded by a terrible and disturbing feeling of kinship with this person who had just sent a swarm of insane fire lizards tearing into Lee.

"Made you...?" Naruto couldn't rub the burn of the tattoos on his face right now, with both fists in Gaara's tunic. "No!! They don't fucking matter! You don't let them _use _you," he shouted, "you're a person!"

Gaara's eyes drifted shut and Naruto felt the ripping pain of a multitude of claws in his back, and this time they didn't shake free. Through the new shock of pain, he realized that Gaara wasn't fully controlling the fire lizards. They moved on their own, too, an entity of aggression, and shoved Gaara's influence—and awareness, it looked like—totally aside.

At a loss, he bashed his forehead into Gaara's, and once again was faced with a startled look. "Don't let them control you!" Naruto snarled.

Then help came. A dragon's roar shook Naruto to the bones, and everyone turned to look towards the entrance of the hatching ground. A bronze had landed, Maith, with Gai astride him. With a single gliding jump, the dragon thudded to the ground behind Lee and the swarming fire lizards blew back from the crowd of candidates as though they'd been struck by an invisible fist, driven back by Maith's anger.

"WHAT'S GOING ON HERE??" Gai bellowed. Silence fell, the only sounds coming from outside and far above them, the screaming noise of Konoha dragons fighting..

From where Naruto sat on top of Gaara, Lee's arm and leg looked mangled, shredded cloth soaked with blood, but he had sat up, somehow, eyes glazed. "Get back to the stands, please," he said, voice vague.

Neji was slumped beside him, looking caught between holding him up and trying to push him to lie down again. Blood streaked Neji's tunic as it did Naruto's as he bled from a multitude of scratches. His hair had come undone and his hands were smeared with Lee's blood.

Naruto got up and dragged Gaara to his feet by the front of his tunic. Gaara still looked stunned from the headbutt, blinking in a wide-eyed stare at Naruto.

"Lee?" Gai's horrified question echoed through the silent cavern, and he leaped from Maith's neck and ran towards Lee.

"What…" Gaara said, "Why is he doing that?"

"He loves him. He wants to help him," Naruto said, incredulous. Gaara's blatant, vaguely perplexed stare was almost obscene in its detached interest, after having seen him attack Lee not minutes earlier.

"Love," Gaara repeated, and his expression became almost animated, flickering through confusion, disbelief, anger, then decision.

And the fire lizards descended like a blow, Naruto ducked and let go of his captive, stumbling back and away.

He looked over his shoulder on instinct and saw Tenten and Kiba and the rest falling back likewise from Temari and Kankuro as two separate swarms of fire lizards surrounded them both. The swarms contracted.

"We're done," Gaara said, and the three Suna candidates vanished.

There was a moment of dead silence. Naruto could hardly believe he had truly seen that. He blinked, and blinked again, and tried to make himself believe that three people had really just gone **between**via fire lizard.

"Lee!" he had finally passed out, and Gai lifted him gently, shockingly uncharacteristic darkness in his face. Neji got to his feet on his own, Naruto was relieved to see, and he looked towards the rest of the candidates, spotting no one with anything worse than scratches and cuts and torn clothing.

Maith growled and shifted, wings rustling, and Gai looked grim.

"Stay here," he said, no trace of his usual demeanour visible. He mounted up, carrying Lee, and Maith took off in a fast, low beeline for the infirmary.

Naruto looked at Neji and for a second Neji's worry for his friend and fear about the dragons fighting above the Weyr showed clearly through his reserve. "He'll be fine," Naruto choked, because it was Lee, and how could anything happen to him?

Lee _would _be fine. He had to be.

Everyone stood, milling gradually back to bleachers.

"Oto Weyr," said Shikamaru, and Naruto swivelled to stare at him as he looked upward, eyes half-lidded, staring as though he could see the sky through the roof of the cavern. "They came for the eggs."

"Gaara's from Suna," was all Naruto could think to reply. Oto. A rumor, a frightening tale, an impossible place where dragons trained not against Thread, but against other dragons. The latest tale was that they needed eggs, and were going to raid the true Weyrs. The dragons had eyes that were always red, and fighting scars, and everyone knew someone who knew someone who'd seen one.

"And Suna is a fine and reliable ally, isn't it?" Shikamaru tilted his head to look at Naruto and raised his eyebrows.

"Can't be Oto," Naruto said, but there was no conviction in him. Oto. Where Sasuke had wanted to go, where _that man_ he'd wanted to find was rumoured to lead the red-eyed dragons.

Couldn't be. Sasuke couldn't be like this. No. Naruto put that out of his mind.

Naruto looked at where Lee had been mauled. Blood made the sand dark. And now it seemed clear what Gaara had been supposed to do.

The attack must not have gone quite to plan. If they hadn't all been gathered in here when the attack started. Gaara could have come here with Temari and Kankurou and been free to take the eggs, unopposed, while Katsuyuth fought above, with Maith and Umith and all the rest.

What was obvious in hindsight—guards for the eggs—couldn't even have been conceived of beforehand. This attack had been unthinkable until now.

But it had failed. Here the eggs still were. Gaara was gone.

Except… the attacking dragons were still above, the sounds of fighting clear and terrible.

"They were just a distraction," Chouji said, uncertain, echoing Naruto's own hope, "they failed, they'll leave."

"No," Shikamaru said, and everyone turned at the sound of his voice, following his gaze across the trampled sand and out the mouth of the cavern.

A lithe, scarred bronze was low in the bowl only a few dragonlengths from the hatching cavern. Attempting a much more obvious snatch, below the aerial melee. He spun in a quick turn that most bronzes couldn't achieve and arrowed straight for the hatching ground.

It may have lacked stealth, but the sight was no less horrifying for that. Naruto had seen dragons hunt. They killed herdbeasts by snapping their thick necks, ate by messy disemboweling of their prey, tearing flesh, crunching bones with much enjoyment.

And now a dragon was coming for them.

They all stared, the enormity of _fearing _a dragon's approach beyond anyone's ability to truly grasp.

The sheer wrongness of it all made Naruto feel sick and angry, bile rising at the back of his throat. Dragons were not… they didn't…

He heard an affirmative squeak from Akamaru as Kiba sent him upward again.

The sound of running, as some candidates fled, making for the doors at the back of the cavern that would let them into halls too small for a dragon to enter.

The remaining candidates had started to move backward, step by step, towards the eggs.

It wouldn't matter, Naruto knew. There was no defense. He stumbled back over a warm, smooth shell, and put a hand gently on it, a knot in his throat starting to choke him at his sheer uselessness, at the idea that this warm egg and all its mates, tended so diligently by Katsuyuth, visited on many occasions by the candidates, should be taken, twisted into the red-eyed monsters attacking the Weyr.

And he could do nothing but die, or run.

He wasn't going to run.

A sweaty hand slipped into his, and he couldn't look away from the oncoming bronze, but the pink in his peripheral vision told him who it was, and he squeezed. She squeezed back, grip tightening to the point of pain.

Long black hair on his other side. And Naruto didn't care, now, what it meant, how it looked. He grabbed for Neji's hand and felt it grip back. Their fingers interlaced, and they watched the oncoming threat.

The one who came to their aid wasn't Umith, it wasn't Maith, it wasn't even great gold Katsuyuth.

The graying bronze shape of the retired Weyrleader's dragon appeared riderless, square in the intruder's path, roaring. Enmath, Sarutobi's bronze.

The hostile bronze didn't so much as shift a wingtip. He flew straight on to ram into the elderly defender. Enmath didn't bother to dodge. Bellowing, eyes blazing red with fury, he met the silent oncoming dragon. He folded upon impact, but closed his old jaws on the attacker's throat and dug blunt claws into his flanks. The younger bronze made no sound, only swatted and raked at the clinging nuisance, hovering awkwardly. His rider appeared unruffled, seated tall and relaxed. Enmath's low, muffled roars could be heard across the bowl, the agony audible in the deep, groaning sound, but he held fast. They lost altitude, and finally the locked-together dragons thudded to the ground bare meters from the hatching ground's entrance

New roars from above. Dragons were diving from the aerial melee, and Naruto could hear the recognizable deep roar of the gold whose eggs were threatened.

The attacker shook free from Enmath's grip in short order. The old bronze bellowed and struggled after him, wings torn and sagging, ichor and worse dripping from long gashes, close to disemboweled by sharp talons, but still moving.

A person, a small figure from this distance, was racing on foot towards the old bronze. The retired weyrleader.

Then Raidou's lean brown Namiath shot straight over the intruder's head and swerved to land between him and the sands with jaws wide and feet planted, the limber brown smaller than the bronzes, and dwarfed by the cavern's entrance.

Namiath snarled, but didn't attack, still hesitant. Killing rage was almost unheard of in normal dragons, only known to happen if two gold dragons rose to mate at once. But the bronze was as unnatural as Gaara's fire lizards, eyes solid red, but moving like no dragon Naruto knew. The bronze's motions held no indication of independence, no anger despite his eyes, or even any thought. He moved like a string puppet. His hide was marked with scars of combat, but they were altogether different from the long, tangled lines of threadscore. They were claw marks and ragged knitted tears, scars from battle with dragons, the kind that Konoha dragons would bear after today.

One familiar green pair shot straight over the attacking bronze's head. Geth and Hayate. But Geth's wingsails were ragged, and her flight slowing, uneven, and when she turned to swoop again, a red-eyed blue dropped onto her back, and with one quick motion, tore her rider from her back, jaws closing on his neck and chest, and tossed him aside. His body fell to the ground.

Geth screamed, and vanished. Hayate's crumpled form didn't move, and Naruto knew the green would never come out of **between** again.

Enmath roared, rose on all fours at last. He lunged and caught the attacker's haunches.

The rider of the scarred bronze leaped from the trapped dragon's neck and was swung aboard the blue.

The blue called a long, piercing note, and vanished.

The light fading from his eyes, Enmath rode the thrashing and heaving of the abandoned bronze as he tried to rise from the ground, the unnatural motion gone from his scarred body, visceral terror animating him now. He seemed to have no ability to follow his comrades, despite having come **between**to get here, and that meant, chillingly, he really had been abandoned with no directions for him to leave.

The old weyrleader reached his dragon at last, and as he threw himself over Enmath's neck, Naruto felt a gently touch in his mind. Gasps from others in the huddled group matched his own as the mellow old dragon spoke for himself and his rider: _Goodbye. _

Naruto yelled wordless denial as similar shouts and wails rose behind him, but he ran only a few steps forward in the sand before Enmath vanished, taking himself, his rider, and the crazed, screaming bronze **between** to die.

The blue's call must have been a signal for retreat; all over the bowl, dragons were landing, freed from combat. Katsuyuth, dripping ichor from a multitude of wounds, shoved past Namiath, her motions panicked enough to spray sand all over the flinching candidates as she hurried to her eggs, snapping at any candidate who still stood near them, huddling over them when she saw they were untouched.

Naruto staggered back with the rest, shrinking from Katsuyuth's rage, and they all stood on the sands as the piercing keen of the Weyr's dragons filled the air, echoed by Akamaru's tinny wail, their grief for Enmath, and Geth and their riders, and Naruto had no idea how many more might have been killed today.

That night, Naruto's nightmare was only one among those of many others, and when Neji shook him awake and he clung as if to a lifeline, shuddering under the grip of hands that held too tight not to be taking comfort in return, no one looked twice.


	11. Chapter 10 Recovery

**Chapter Ten: Recovery**

In the long, dazed days following the attack, when the rim of the bowl was constantly lined with tense, vigilant dragons, when every one of them, and many of their riders, bore wounds of varying degrees of severity, when no one laughed except those too young or simple to understand, and chores and lessons were mostly done as if everyone was half asleep, Neji returned often to Lee's infirmary bed, willing his friend to recover.

At first it had seemed he'd only sleep off the trauma, and be hobbling around the next day, well-bandaged but too typically stubborn to be discouraged. He'd slurred goodnight to his gathered friends, drugged to the eartips on fellis but optimistic as ever, scoffing that he would be up and back in training in the morning, and then the healers had politely evicted the small crowd.

But he didn't wake up. Lee's wounds sent him into a fever. Neji had come with Tenten before breakfast the next day to see Master Gai, looking like deadly serious stranger, listening to a healer. They hung back, too far to hear her words, but the overall meaning was plain enough.

The healer spotted them past Gai's shoulder, a glance he turned instantly to follow, and he gestured them over.

Neji hardly heard the explanation of Lee's state as the healer let the three of them past the curtain that blocked off Lee's bed. He was almost unrecognizable, the vivacious, exuberant, overly _everything _young man that Neji had known since his arrival at Konoha.

Gai stood at the foot of his bed, arms crossed, glowering like a foreboding statue. Tenten sat in the chair by his head and rubbed her face with her hands, trying to sniffle unobtrusively.

The longer Lee stayed this way, the healer's explanation boiled down to, the less likely he would recover. And every time Neji returned, and Lee's feverish body was still shifting in unconscious discomfort, looking thinner every time, the worse the outlook became.

The dragging awareness of Lee's state made Neji think he would never be able to concentrate on anything, not his chores or his lessons, any of it. He was wrong about that, he realized soon enough. Without Lee at chores to constantly chivvy and encourage and challenge Neji to ridiculous competitions (that Lee usually lost), Neji completed his tasks all the more thoroughly for the lack.

As silver linings went, it wasn't much.

* * *

Three days after the attack, Naruto shoveled food into his mouth, the taste barely registering.

Lee's absence at the table was bad enough, Neji's fixed, grim industriousness painful to see, but the empty spot at the Weyrlingstaff table was worse, because the one who was missing there would never return, Master Genma solemnly continuing the lessons his weyrmate had been meant to give.

And no one could even look at the empty seat at the Weyrleader's table. Sarutobi had not been on active duty in that fighting wing in years, but his tenure as Weyrleader had lasted nearly four decades, and he had been a fixture there.

So many other empty places, some as permanently vacated as Master Hayate's, but most, mercifully, belonged to riders injured and infirmary-bound like Lee. Every fighting wing was ragged with more minor injuries on every singly dragonpair, only the skill of the riders and their determination keeping everything from giving way every time there was another threadfall.

Staring at his empty plate, wishing he could fill the hollow place in his middle, Naruto willed Lee to wake up

Sitting outside in the heat of the afternoon and listening to Master Genma give the lesson about flamethrowers that Master Hayate had been supposed to give this afternoon felt terribly wrong.

Under the bright sun outside the shed where the flamethrowers were kept, Naruto found he didn't care about their maintenance or use right now anyway, but he forced himself to pay attention, aware that this had to be far worse for the one explaining everything.

When Genma dismissed them at last, the ordeal concluded for everyone for another day, Shirath was down immediately to take him back up to their weyr, and the gloomy candidates rose to disperse.

From the nearby entrance to the lower caverns came a dismayed exclamation, "surely I didn't miss the lesson?" They all looked around with shock.

"Lee!!" Tenten asked, her voice rising to an extreme pitch in her surprise, and there was a minor stampede that skidded to a careful halt around a very wobbly looking Lee.

Standing upright, if not totally stable, with a crutch under his good right arm, his left arm and leg both wrapped in thick bandages, he looked like he was about to fall over. But the hollow-cheeked pallor in his face was offset by bright eyes and a wide grin at all the attention.

Still, he was obviously still fragile, and was the only reason Naruto didn't tackle him in a hug right then and there. He glanced over at Neji to see a rare and welcome sight—a wide smile on his face, and Naruto felt surge of deep affection at the sight.

Lee grinned happily back at them all, despite his obvious shakiness.

"Are you even supposed to be up?" Tenten asked, admonishingly, and Lee waved away the worry.

"I feel fine!" he declared, "Some exercise and fresh air and you'll see, I'll be as good as new."

"I'm sure you will," Neji said, his smile no longer so open, but quite audible in his voice.

Tenten wasn't the only one concerned about Lee's state. A harried-looking healer appeared from the door Lee had exited, her expression somewhere between exasperated and impressed.

"Young man, get back to the infirmary, or I'll have you on latrines as soon as you're well enough to scrub!" Lee turned his beaming face on her, and she faltered in her sternness. "In a few minutes," she hedged, clearly unable to stand up to the combined weight of Lee's joy at being out in the sun, and the candidates' at seeing him.

"I'm getting Gai," Kiba crowed, and launched Akamaru, who vanished with a joyful cheep.

"It's too hot to stand," Naruto complained loudly, and shouldered back through the crowd to the benches that had been hauled outside for the flamethrower lessons. The rest took his hint, and Lee hobbled over to join them, his heavy breathing from the effort making his true state very clear.

Akamaru reappeared, looking smug, and Kiba grinned. "He'll be done the flight drills in half an hour."

Lee's eyes shone. "I hope Master Gai didn't worry too much. It was hardly anything."

* * *

Lee chatted animatedly with everyone as Neji detached himself from the group to go speak to the healer, who once again looked torn between urgency and indulgence.

"Ma'am, I offer my word that he'll get back to the infirmary after Master Gai sees him." He didn't want to keep her away from the other casualties he knew still lay there, but neither did he want her to remove Lee from the group, when he'd returned a much-needed spark to everyone's eyes, one that Neji felt himself.

The healer nodded slowly. "He only just woke up after midday," she tsked, "Five hours and he's already walking around. Fine then, have him back before the rest of you go to evening meal." She raised a stern eyebrow that was completely undercut by the smile that spread when she looked past Neji at the cluster of excited candidates.

A few at a time, people left to change, to wash, to run errands that needed running before suppertime, until Neji, Sakura, Naruto and Tenten were the only ones left. With the smaller group, the conversation turned serious, as Lee got the complete story of what had happened after Gaara.

The sheer amount of injured in the infirmary had meant Lee had heard the worst news already. He had extracted the news of the deaths of the old Weyrleader and of their Candidatemaster out of some of healers already, but he asked, remarkably restrained, if he could hear it from the ones who'd seen it.

After a few exchanged glances, Naruto nodded, and described what Lee had missed.

Lee listened, tears sliding unabashedly down his face. Neji slid a hand onto his shoulder, the bones under his palm a bit too pronounced after the long fever, but with Lee's body heat finally at a reassuringly normal level, Neji was only glad.

Naruto sighed and scrubbed his wrist up over his eye. "We won. They failed," he finished, voice scratchy and eyes serious.

"Are their names on the wall yet?" Lee asked, and Naruto shook his head.

"They were waiting—" Naruto's words hitched slightly, and Neji knew why.

_They were waiting to see if anyone in the infirmary would have to be added as well. _

"For you all to get better so there could be a proper ceremony," Naruto finished instead.

A whoosh of wingbeats distracted everyone from what Naruto hadn't said, and Lee hoisted himself upright, Neji steadying him as he rose. Lee dried his face distractedly on his hand bandage, and they all stood up to greet Maith as the big bronze lowered his forequarters for Gai to leap down.

Maith rumbled happily at them, eyes a contented blue, and his lower jaw dropped in a dragon-style grin at Lee, clearly pleased that his rider's beloved protégé was up and about.

Gai rushed forward to embrace Lee in a very careful but sincere hug. Neji heard Naruto's happy laugh and smiled. He still found Lee and Gai completely strange, if not downright crazy most of the time, but now it was just a part of why he loved the Weyr. It would not have been the same without Lee.

Maith let out a curious gruff noise suddenly, drawing everyone's attention, and his eyes were now tinged orange with worry. Gai drew back immediately and stared at Lee, holding him by both shoulders.

"What is it?" Lee asked.

Gai frowned at him, and Neji was unnerved to see the same strain return to his eyes that had been there throughout Lee's time unconscious. Gai turned to stare at Maith, who shook his head, tilted it, and came closer to peer at Lee, eyes narrowed. He snorted..

Lee looked back at the dragon, mildly confused, and tilted his head. "Are you all right, Maith?" Gai looked slightly relieved but still very concerned.

"What did he say to you?" Gai asked, and the question was far more significant than it should have been.

"Nothing really, he just sent me an image of you both—" Lee fell silent with a concerned look as Maith let out a growling whine.

Neji heard, inside his head, an altogether unfamiliar voice that was growing increasingly desperate.

_Hear me, little one, hear me, hear me, HEAR ME!!_

Maith was sending so loudly that Neji could hear it, and by their expressions, the rest as well. Worry that wasn't Neji's dropped over him like a blanket, drying his mouth, sadness and regret flooding over him next until Maith whined again, shaking himself. The emotions and words shut off as abruptly as the dragon's sending returned to normal strength.

Lee obviously hadn't gotten Maith's words. But he had detected the emotions. "Maith, what's wrong?" he cried, pulling free of Gai's grip to hobble over and touch the bronze's muzzle.

"Master Gai," Tenten spoke quietly, "We have to get ready for evening meal."

"Thank you, candidates, I'll see that Lee returns to the infirmary," Gai answered, staring at the confused boy and the worried bronze.

"We'll visit you later," Naruto called, but the realization of Lee's condition stole the normal buoyancy from his voice, and Lee frowned after them as they left Gai to speak to him alone.

"The fever?" Naruto asked, voice hollow, when they all stood inside the door to the lower caverns. Sakura shook her head.

"The body fights infection with fever… it usually stops before mind damage… that sort of thing doesn't normally happen in adults from fever unless the person is stuck somewhere that's too hot," she said, voice thick. "And this would be in the healer casebooks if it happened that easily, I never heard of anything like it when I was an apprentice…"

She trailed off and they stood in a loose huddle inside the door. Neji closed his fists against the urge to go back outside and see how Lee was.

"The fire lizards?" he suggested, seeing in his mind's eye the concentrated mass of small, writhing bodies on Lee.

"I… don't know," Sakura said, sounding lost. "I mean… I don't think that kind of attack has ever happened before."

After a few long moments of silence, they continued on to the dining hall. Neji didn't know, now, what to think of Lee's recovery. He was alive, and that was something Neji could only be grateful for, but…

Lee was up, getting well, his fever gone, his irrepressible energy only temporarily diminished. Once his wounds healed and his body had regained all the nutrition it had missed, he would be good as new.

Except he couldn't hear dragons.

How could a person like that be a candidate?

They managed to get back into the infirmary to visit him much later in the evening, after being turned away repeatedly until finally the healer on duty ordered them not to come back until she'd summoned them with her fire lizard.

The little green popped into their midst when it was only an hour till lights out, putting a merciful end to a halfhearted card game.

The sight that greeted them was not what they had expected.

Lee was… taking it in stride. He was in his infirmary bed again, and visibly exhausted, but he was happy to see them, and eagerly described to them all manner of visits, from various dragons trying to talk to him, and Tsunade herself come to examine him, but he was not at all as devastated as they had feared. Or devastated at all, really.

"It's nothing!" Lee said, again and again many times as they offered tentative condolences. "It's nothing! I don't need to _talk _to a dragon to communicate, anyway. I'll just become the expert at visualization, you'll see." He grinned and tapped his temple. "I can still do that just fine, and feel all the emotions they send."

"So you're going to stay as a candidate," Neji said, unable to keep the skepticism from his voice.

"Absolutely!" Lee cried, punching at the air. "They can't make me leave, and I won't!" he tilted his head at Neji and raised a finger at him. "I love you dearly, my friend, but you are very defeatist."

"No, I just keep defeating you," Neji returned wryly, smiling slightly. As Lee sputtered indignantly and proclaimed a list of new challenges (to begin this minute, of course, no waiting for him to heal fully), Neji was tentatively reassured for Lee. He wasn't in denial, he knew what difficulties he would have to get past, and he was looking ahead towards them.

He was as ready as ever to be a candidate. All that was left to find was if there was a dragon that would hatch who was ready for Lee.

He looked around at the others. Naruto was looking slightly glazed as Lee launched into an detailed explanation of the various ways he'd thought of for getting around the lack of verbal communication. Tenten looked honestly interested, while Sakura was a few yards away talking to the healer.

Were there dragons for them in any of those eggs, the eggs now always guarded by dragonpairs in shifts of three, the eggs Lee had broken a part of himself to protect?

"Alright, alright," Naruto grumbled, and Neji refocused on the here and now. The healer was making little shooing motions at them all.

It was time. Lee was valiantly fighting off his exhaustion, but Neji had to agree with the healer. They said goodnight under her impatient eyes and obediently left the infirmary and headed in a slow wander towards the dorms. The girls split off with a wave down the hall to their room.

"So am I supposed to be happy, or what?" Naruto asked suddenly, words hanging in the quiet corridor. Neji didn't know how to answer that.

"He's alive," Neji replied, but his own uncertainty was audible, "He's recovering."

"Yeah," Naruto muttered. "Yeah." He looked at Neji, coming to a halt and stopping Neji as well with a heavy, serious gaze. "I thought we were all going to die, y'know. All of us there." He raised one arm and rested it on Neji's shoulder, sliding it heavily down until he was holding his upper arm.

The motion was meaningful, Neji could feel it in the slow slide of Naruto's hand over him. Just that simple movement carried a depth of emotion that pulled Neji back through the past week, to that moment between the dragon and the eggs, where they'd stood, a useless barrier without hope of matching the assault that seemed sure to come. People had reached for each other and Neji had slid his fingers between Naruto's, wanting that much, at least, if they were going to die there.

"We didn't," Neji said. He moved his arm, pulling free from Naruto's grip to catch the warm fingers in his own, feeling them slide into place once again. Naruto let out of a huge sigh and tightened his grip, pressing their palms together. His other hand reached up, landed on Neji's other shoulder, thumb brushing his neck in a way that sent pinpoints of sensation down Neji's spine, but then Naruto revised his original motion into an awkward pat.

Neji swallowed, caught by sudden anticipation, mind now freed from the dull inertia of the past days, and a surge of nervousness immediately afterwards.

Impatient with himself, he waded through the hesitation and let go of Naruto's hand to loop his arm awkwardly around Naruto's neck and pull him into a hug. Naruto rose on his toes just enough to rest his chin on Neji's shoulder, holding on tight, turning his face a moment to press into Neji's neck. The warm breath against his skin sent the tingling once again down his back, and the nerves skittered forward again, though along with them came a shivery anticipation..

Probably having felt him tense, Naruto let him go, pulling back and finally breaking contact with a last squeeze to his arm. Affection radiated from every part of him, and Neji smiled at him. A vibrant grin was his reward.

"Know what," Naruto said, as they continued on their way to the barracks, "I think I'll be happy."


	12. Chapter 11: The Hatching

**Chapter Eleven: The Hatching**

When the dragons began the humming that heralded a hatching, it was like a signal for starting to move on.

Two weeks after the attack and while chores and training and Threadfall had never let up, the general atmosphere in the Weyr was taking far longer to return to a semblance of normal.

But when Akamaru stood upright on Kiba's shoulder during supper and began to hum deep in his tiny throat, all the candidates went still.

The rest of the cavern went equally quiet for a moment, as the dragonriders all heard their dragons pass along the same message.

_Hatching_.

Then, like a dam bursting, there was a cacophony of enthusiastic shouting. Master Iruka tried to make himself heard over the din of overjoyed candidates, but his instructions weren't really required—everyone knew what to do when the dragons started to hum. There was a general stampede to the dormitories as the ran to change into the white robes and light sandals that candidates wore when standing for Impression.

The humming was far louder as Naruto fidgeted his way onto the sands, shuffling maddeningly slowly behind Neji as the line crawled into the cavern. The heat of the sands was fiery through the thin soles of his sandals.

The dragons' hatching signal had continued without a pause since it began, having evolved from a mere signal to a welcoming chorus for their newest fellow threadfighters, encouraging them from the shells that had hardened to brittle, breakable prisons on the sands.

The eggs themselves were no longer perfectly still. They'd woken from their dormant development stage to urgent awareness, the inmates ready to emerge and find the rider who was perfect for them. Naruto had touched almost all the eggs during the brief, regular visits candidates had to the grounds after the first two weeks of vigilant protection by their Katsuyuth. They'd been allowed to touch the tough, leathery shells, feel the living warmth within. No one knew if the presence of candidates affected the developing dragonets, but the familiarity prevented candidates from being too overwhelmed when hatching finally came. By then the eggs were almost old friends. This one with the blue-green patches over bronze, that one with brown speckles against green, the next with all the colours swirled and blended together like a painting left in the rain.

The only sure thing was that the colour of the dragonet could never be predicted by the colour of the shell. But that wouldn't be a mystery for much longer. Now they would break out, and soon. Here and there a twitch would catch the eye as one of the dragonets tested the shell it was confined in.

Naruto felt a strong sense of proprietary protectiveness towards this clutch. Humans and dragons had died to protect it, and many still bore the healing wounds of the attack. Lee had been able to get around well enough as of five days ago, the fatigue was mostly gone, but he still was walking with one crutch, and his injured arm and leg still fully bound with bandages.

But there he was anyway, a few people behind Naruto and just ahead of Tenten, leaning on his crutch and smiling madly away. The weyrling staff would have had to sit on him to keep him away.

At their end of the oval of sand that formed the hatching ground proper, the candidates formed a loose curving line, a good dragonlength from the eggs to allow the dragonets plenty of room to maneuver as they chose their life-partners.

To Naruto's left, the wall rose three storeys upward, barely curving overhead before it turned into mounting rows of ledges. Dragons perched there now, humming their welcome and awaiting their newest comrades.

A more chaotic mirror of the relatively still dragons, riders and weyrfolk and guests were filling the stands on his right, shouts and chatter as loud as any gather.

Now as they arranged themselves correctly, candidates being tugged back in some places by Master Kakashi or Master Asuma to keep the line from getting too close to the eggs, Naruto leaned towards Neji and bumped his shoulder, getting a little thrill when his grin drew a return smile from Neji. "Good luck," he said, and Neji nodded, the mingled worry and hope of every candidate more muted on him, but still definitely there.

Naruto let out a heavy breath, readying himself, staring intently at the eggs before them. Nearly eight months since the last hatching, and so much had happened since then, that this was suddenly like the first time again. And this time he felt something altogether new, brought on by the people around him, the friends he'd become closer too during training. Some might Impress and the others not. It was childish, perhaps, but after the childhood he'd had, Naruto would not chose to have his friendships distanced by anything.

Not anything. But things happened anyway, and sometimes it could be overcome easily, and sometimes not. People got hurt, people were offended… people left.

_Sasuke_, he thought with a deep, sharp pang. _You should be here. _He let his eyes drift over the eggs, tracing the smears of mingled colour on each hardened shell. _I hope you found what you were looking for._ Naruto couldn't fathom wanting anything but the respect and abilities dragonriders earned. _I'll be_ _Weyrleader,_ he though firmly to his vanished friend. _I'll find you, and you'll see, we'll get whatever you need. _

But Impression wasn't a loss. Naruto glanced down the line of candidates in both directions. He wouldn't lose any of his friends. Not Sakura, or Shikamaru, or Lee… or Neji.

They'd all still be here at the Weyr, no matter how fate divided them today or on any other hatching.

And then there was no attention left for dwelling on his worries, because the first egg cracked with a decisive snap that silenced the entire room and Naruto held his breath as a brown dragonet spilled wetly from a neatly shattered shell. He squawked and the crowd murmured happily.

The little brown righted himself and looked about. As he decided, a green burst her shell, and another, and then a blue was shaking shards from his damp hide, and as the brown came forward, lolloping to a boy on the end of the line, all the eggs were rocking hard, and breaking one by one.

A metallic glint caught his eye, a bronze picking his determined way through broken eggshells, and the hatchling knew exactly where he was going, heading in a perfect line for… Naruto leaned forward and craned his neck.

Shikamaru.

Even at a hatching, Shikamaru still managed to keep an air of mild annoyance, right up until the little bronze butted him in the thighs, then reared up to shove him down.

Shikamaru said something, face transformed, eyes wide and awed, and Naruto was close enough for the repeated murmur of the bronze's name down the line to reach, "Narath." The dragonet butted Shikamaru's chin for good measure, and then scrambled off so his rider could rise, wriggling delightedly and impatiently. By the time Shikamaru walked past Naruto on the way to the room where the prepared meat was, he was regular Shikamaru again, sighing and muttering with a mildly put upon slouch. "How can you be _that _hungry? What a pain," and Master Asuma came up to meet the new weyrling pair and accompany them away, Narath bounding and excited the whole way.

Shikamaru, on a bronze. It was so very unexpected, but Naruto watched him walk away, the energetic dragonet practically dancing along by his side, and knew it was right. For all the noises about wanting to lie around, free of any work, Shikamaru always did any task he was given to the utmost, and there was a great deal of intelligence and, more importantly, good nature and good sense beneath the laconic exterior.

Naruto turned back to the hatching spectacle. Another brown, and then greens and blues, and a very few eggs were left now.

"No. Truly? Are you sure?" Lee's incredulous voice rang out, and Naruto had to look. A green dragonet sat primly at Lee's feet, head tilted, tail curled neatly around her feet, and posture conveying amused patience very eloquently. Lee knelt, seemingly careful of his injured leg, but mostly slowed by awe, and touched her muzzle. She blinked, mouth opening slightly in encouraging anticipation, and Lee threw his arms around her skinny neck. She leaned her head lovingly against his. "I'll do my very best, oh my glorious green, you'll see!" Lee promised as he drew back, chin set and tear-bright eyes wide in his most intense expression of promise. Then he looked around, frantic. "What's her name? Her name, what's her name?"

_Roth_, Naruto was given, and he repeated it aloud.

"Roth," he said, and Lee beamed at him, eyes brimming, then turned back to the little green, swallowing the tears.

"Roth, you are the most beautiful of all greens, you must know that! Now we have to feed you, my love, you must keep up your energy—we will be working very hard!" Lee hauled himself up again and cast another brilliant smile at Naruto. "And what is his name?"

Naruto blinked, and felt a light plucking at his robe and he swiveled so fast he nearly fell. Standing solidly on all fours, small wings neatly folded, a dignified-looking bronze released Naruto's robe hem from his teeth and blinked up at him.

_I am Uzuth, _Naruto heard, and recognized the voice that had told him Roth's name for Lee. He abruptly became aware of the part of his mind that was now also someone else's, an awareness of the emotions and sensations of the dragonet before him. Right now it was adoration, closely accompanied by urgent, almost painful hunger.

Neji touched his arm and Naruto startled back to the world around him. "He's Uzuth," he said, still staring down, transfixed by the faceted eyes that swirled with blue happiness and the slight tinge of hungry orange.

_I am really quite hungry,_ Uzuth said pointedly, and Naruto nodded, reaching out to gently caress Uzuth's eyeridge, the hide soft and smooth under his fingertips.

_Let's feed ya then_, Naruto sent experimentally, and got a flood of loving gratitude in return as he took a step back before beginning to turn. He felt his throat choke up at the magnitude of that love, flooding into him and filling cracks that had been closing, ever so slowly, during his time as a candidate. The biggest reward dragonriders were given in exchange for risking their lives every 'fall was the gift of unbreakable, unconditional love.

He looked up, then paused. Nothing but shells littered the sands where the clutch had sat. The last blue was just now picking his rider at the far end of the line, and Kiba still stood unchosen, and so did Shino and Chouji, so did Sakura and Hinata and Tenten and Ino and… Neji.

And maybe it had been ridiculous to imagine that there was a chance they would all end up together, but…

_Please don't be sad,_ Uzuth was plaintive and worried.

_I'm not, I'm not, I swear, I just wish they were all so lucky, _Naruto hurriedly reassured, tamping down his pang of unhappiness.

He wasn't losing them, he told himself firmly. He had gained someone else. Neji's grey eyes caught his, calm and tinged with the disappointment that hung over all the passed-over candidates, but he smiled, and then nodded to Uzuth. "Good choice, Uzuth. Take care of him."

Uzuth dropped his lower jaw slightly in a draconic smile, and Naruto could feel the little bronze's pleasure at the direct address. That was slightly unusual—most dragons didn't concern themselves overmuch with humans other than their riders. _You love them too, _Uzuth replied, his faceted eyes sweeping across the line of candidates. That was all there was to it, it seemed. _They are important. _

_Yes. Thank you._ "He will," Naruto answered Neji, feeling the joy filling him again. "Wait for me at the party!" he added as he turned away at last, appreciating Uzuth's patience, more with every step as the cramping hunger pangs became worse and worse.

Master Iruka met him with a proud smile, and Naruto felt his chest swell at the sight. "Uzuth, Master Iruka," he introduced, as Iruka accompanied them back to the feeding area.

"He's beautiful Naruto. He's perfect."

_He is quite right,_ Uzuth agreed.

"He is," Naruto grinned, the words answering both at once. He stifled laughter, and accepted the bowl of raw meat from a kitchen worker.

Uzuth took the meat without so much as pinching Naruto's fingers, a far cry from Shikamaru's new partner. The other new bronze weyrling murmured reproofs to Narath as he lunged and snapped very enthusiastically for his meal.

"Get him to chew that a little, or he'll get a stomachache," Iruka cautioned, and squeezed Naruto's shoulder before moving onwards to Lee, who, despite his dragon-deafness, was not having much trouble at all communicating with Roth using his voice, and in fact needed a little calming down.

_I will not get a stomachache_, Uzuth said haughtily, pointedly chewing on the next piece, teeth tearing it quickly into more digestible chunks before swallowing.

_Of course not,_ Naruto soothed.

It didn't take long for Uzuth to get the bowl down, and by then he was nearly asleep on his feet, barely lasting long enough to follow Naruto to the weyrling barracks. Naruto's things had already been moved from the candidate barracks, and sat in a neat pile by the door.

_I like this one,_ Uzuth told him sleepily, trudging the last few steps to one of the larger stone couches and clambering onto it to flop bonelessly down on the smooth stone, settling into the depression worn by generations of young dragons. Just now the couch looked ridiculously large for Uzuth's six-foot length, of which fully half was tail, but the bronze would be nearly twenty feet long when they left here halfway through training for their private weyrs, so he had chosen well. Naruto smoothed one hand down his neck, and lightly traced the edge of one relaxed wing.

Uzuth. Bronze. His.

"Naruto!" Lee crowed, limping up to him just as he turned away from the couch. Naruto laughed and spotted Roth, sprawled on the couch across the wide center aisle from Uzuth's, belly bulging comfortably with meat. "Let's go to the party, we have to eat and keep up our strength for tomorrow!"

"Yeah, yeah, go ahead," Naruto waved him off, "I'm coming." He dragged his things to his bed, digging through the clothes chest to retrieve trousers and shirt and tunic, shucking the white candidate's robe that he would never wear again.

He stepped into his boots and looked around. The new dragonets looked so small on their beds, especially next to a couple of the older ones dozing in the barracks this evening. No weyrlings but him in evidence, now, and so he took a deep breath and left Uzuth to his rest.

Food, drink, fun, this post-hatching party was wilder than any Naruto had ever experienced before as everyone in attendance went various degrees of overboard with this excuse for celebration. Even Genma was in evidence, giving all the new weyrlings heartfelt, if serious, congratulations.

Leaning back against the wall next to Neji and eating off a heaped plate from the buffet laid out for everyone, he had another moment of melancholy loss for the candidate group now split by Impression, even though just now, everyone was mingled together in front of him in a great, loud mass.

Neji too looked somewhat uncertain. Hard to tell unless you knew him, but Naruto would always be happy to say he did.

"Pie?" he half-shouted with his mouth full over the noise of the part, holding his plate out towards Neji, who held only a mug of wine.

Neji took one of the miniature vegetable pies and studied it far too intently.

"It will be different without you around," Neji said, only barely audible over the noise. Naruto gave him an expression that was more grimace than grin. "Quieter," Neji added, slight smile offering the jibe beneath much less happy eyes.

"Sorry 'bout that," Naruto replied. This felt awkward, and he didn't like it at all. "And we got Lee too, man, it is going to be boring in chores now." He looked down at his plate.

"Put that down!" came a shout, and the plate was firmly removed from his grip by one of the other new weyrlings. Lee was among the group, keeping up admirably and smiling fit to burst, and Shikamaru was there as well, still doing his best to look put-upon, but the pleasure of his Impression was evident anyway. A cheer roared from the new weyrlings and they pulled Naruto away from the wall, into the swirl and noise of the middle of the party.

Somewhat later, when the fit of enthusiasm had mellowed slightly and people were starting to head off to bed—tomorrow was a normal day with normal chores, as well as a 'fall in the afternoon—Naruto managed to find Neji again just as he was saying goodnight to Tenten. Naruto waved as she headed off down the hall.

"They're going to herd us all to bed soon," Naruto said. The much reduced celebration noise still bled into the hall, but Naruto knew the weyrling staff would be along soon to corral the new weyrlings into bed. Weyrlings had harder schedules than candidates, and stricter rules along with them.

"You'll be up early enough to cut up Uzuth's breakfast," Neji reminded him. Naruto nodded. They didn't have to kill the dragonets' food on their own, the weyrlingmaster dragons would do that until the dragonets were big enough to do it for themselves, but they did have to butcher it.

"Yeah. Well. Goodnight, I guess," Naruto said, and it felt strange. They had been in the same quarters, whether room or dorm, since Neji had arrived. What he really wanted to do right now was pin him against the wall and make sure Neji would not forget about him during the time it would take them both to reach full-fledged riderhood. He knew full well he'd be exhausted much of the time, and that busy days passed quickly, but right now it seemed like a vast length of time to put this… whatever it was… of theirs on hold. They stared at each other a little while, until Naruto held out his hand for Neji to shake.

Neji looked at Naruto's hand with a frown, then back at Naruto and raised his eyebrows slightly, calling him on the oddly uncharacteristic gesture. Naruto shrugged in slight embarrassment, and then gave in and reached forward to pull Neji into a tight hug. He closed his eyes as Neji hugged him back and tried to memorize what he could feel, the shape in his arms, the arms that were around him.

Until Uzuth was mature—no—until Neji's eventual dragon was mature, that was as good as he could let it could get. He wasn't going to risk his dragon's confusion by so much as daring to kiss Neji, or risk Neji getting tense or disturbed over it either, because that would be the worst way to finish their time together as candidates. He could wait, even if he really wished he didn't have to.

Master Kurenai's voice rose over the remainders of the party, and as the responding chorus of good-natured "awwwws" of protest from the weyrlings, Naruto loosened his grip with a sigh, and felt Neji's shoulders sag slightly as well as they separated.

"See you," Naruto said.

"See you. Goodnight," Neji said, and with a brief wave, he turned and headed down the hall, back to the candidates dorms. Naruto watched him go.

"Naruto?" Kurenai called, "It's getting to lights out!" and he turned.

"Yes ma'am, I'm coming!" he hollered.

He smiled, though, as he headed back to the weyrling barracks and Uzuth.


	13. Chapter 12 Gold Night

**Chapter 12: Gold Night**

Naruto missed Neji less than he expected during the first few weeks, which made him feel both guilty and relieved. When Uzuth was awake, he demanded every bit of Naruto's attention. Feeding him, oiling his skin to keep it soft and pliable as it was stretched over his rapidly growing body, butchering meat for meals that started at three times a day. The weyrlings usually crashed into sleep before lights-out even needed to be reminded.

A month after the hatching, things were settling into what the weyrlingmasters reassured them would be more normal. The dragonets' meals were once a day now. The clinging neediness of the post-hatching period had abated. As Lee had been overhead saying to an attentive Roth, "I love you, my heart, but it's good to be able to get more than a few steps away now and then!"

The dragonets were all more comfortable on their own now, and had become the latest batch of loiterers on the sunny slope of stone outside the weyrling barracks during the morning hours, often joined by one of the weyrlingmaster dragons.

So it was in those evenings, after the training that had proved both more grueling and more boring than any candidate chore—marching in groups, to simulate airborne flight patterns—that Naruto finally had free time again to join his friends who were still candidates. And then he started to miss them.

_I have time now, but I miss 'em more than before, _he commented to Uzuth as he lay waiting to fall asleep one evening, six weeks into weyrlinghood.

_You are not so busy with hatchling things,_ Uzuth replied, _and you think about them much more. _Naruto felt an immediate surge of guilty concern that he'd been neglecting Uzuth, but the little bronze reassured him before it could be made into words. _I am not a baby now, you know, _Uzuth gave a mental sniff, _I can share._

Naruto was glad of that, just as glad as he had been to find a happy reception among the candidates when he and Lee and Shikamaru had joined up with their former fellows for the first time after Impression, a week after the hatching..

From Neji's restrained nod and soft eyes to Sakura's open smile and Kiba's mockery-cloaked salutation, it had been made clear that they were still welcome. The fabric of affection that had formed from all their threads winding together over the months hadn't unraveled. Stretched a bit, because things felt different, but not gone completely out of the old shape.

During the precious free time now available to the newest batch of weyrlings, Shikamaru still exchanged snide barbs with Ino and lounged doing nothing with Chouji, while Lee was, not surprisingly, the one who acted as though nothing had changed, enthusing about all his usual subjects, with only the notable addition of his beloved Roth as a subject.

So they still had fun together, and even if the tug of isolation from his friends was pretty well constant, life was good.

This night, though, Naruto didn't get to fall into the easy sleep his contented thoughts were heading for.

An echoing bugle carried from the bowl deep into the corridors of the Weyr, resonating through the stone and deeply into Naruto's body. Its clarity and length heralded only one thing--a mating flight. And a gold, at that, one of the juniors had been soon to rise, and the difference between this deep call and the much higher-pitched bugle of a green's mating summons was obvious, even from inside the Weyr.

Naruto's eyes popped open in the dark room. Uzuth, for his part, had dropped off, but even awake, a dragon that young wouldn't have picked up the arousal that Naruto knew was seeping into the minds and bodies of every Weyr inhabitant past puberty. It wasn't just the sound that was felt.

Goldflights affected Weyrs as a whole. Not debilitatingly so--it was possible to ignore, of course, or at least shove to the side. They'd all suffered through Katsuyuth's daylight flight in the middle of a candidate class some months previous, the very flight that had resulted in the most recent Hatching.

They'd had to ignore the taunting current of arousal that tugged at everyone able to feel sexual desire. And of course everyone knew that everyone else felt it too. Master Hayate had merely cleared his throat louder than usual, and continued with the lecture on Weyr economics, and they all had done their best to listen. More or less.

Mostly less.

Neji had been annoyed for the rest of the afternoon; Naruto understood why better now than he had then. Kiba had vocally proclaimed just how much he wished he could find someone to nail into the wall, and the rest of them had been at various points in between, but all restrained from actually finding a partner by their overriding goal of weyrlinghood. Sexual relationships were disallowed to stop new riders from confusing or neglecting their young dragons, and that concern, more than any fear of punishment, kept almost all weyrlings in line.

But candidates certainly jerked off now and then. And so did weyrlings. Out in the dark, unseen, and unheard beneath the steady breathing of sleeping dragons and humans, the ones still awake to have heard the mating call were probably starting just that. Those that were asleep were probably having some pleasant dreams.

Naruto grinned, and turned on his side to press his smile into his pillow as he slid his hands below the loose waistband of his sleeping shorts. They were an old pair, the fabric clinging and soft as he curled his fingers around his warm, sweat-dampened cock, his other hand brushing fingertips over his balls, then reaching farther down to cup himself properly as he started to stroke.

He bit down on a deep sigh, letting the breath out slowly into his pillow instead, the fabric warming against his face. His body heat pooled beneath him as he rolled almost onto his belly, trying for as much friction and pressure with the least required movement.

Pre-come slid against his palm and he thrust slightly, shifting awkwardly on the mattress until he found the best combination of his own grip and the pressure of his body weight. Then he could let his mind go, and it didn't have far to travel before he'd summoned every sense memory of Neji that he could. Foremost was the feeling of Neji in his arms, well-proportioned, nicely-muscled and tall at once.

Those arms had held and hugged him, and he'd pressed up against that work-toned body, hugged it back, and now it was right there at the front of his mind, that wonderful firm presence, and Neji moving with him, wouldn't that be wonderful, their hands together between them, and Naruto imagined himself, face pressed against Neji's shoulder, long fingers around his hands, the extra damp heat from someone else so close… He held his breath, lips trapped between his teeth to stop even the risk of sound, and came into his hands.

He slowly returned to himself, finding he was overheated, and he threw back the covers and rolled onto his back. He pulled his hands from his pants and wiped them on his shirt, panting quietly for a while before he dragged the shirt over his head and dropped it on the floor.

Post-orgasm lethargy settled over him and he began to feel the cool air around him. He tugged the blanket back over himself and wondered, as he drifted towards sleep, if Neji might've done what he just had, if Neji would have dared to, given his penchant for repression and overbearing self-control.

He hoped so.

* * *

Smooth heat and wide palms. Neji was naked and warm, heating up, and the hands on his back slid luxuriously. He stretched against them, settling back against a strong, flat chest. There was a mouth grinning against his neck, and the hands moved lower, settling on his hips, maddeningly near to where Neji wanted pressure, and he shifted, oddly slow, but everything felt thick and overwarm now, he was sweating, sliding, and he wanted to grab on, needed friction, needed the grinning, stocky form behind him to move up over top, wanted the blond hair tickling the side of his face in front, where he could bury his face in it, press his cheek against it, run his hands through it...

Neji woke, mouth open and dry, staring up into the dark, the impressions from his dream still driving him, and he dragged one hand up over his mouth and grasped himself roughly through the cloth of his shorts with the other. This was so rare to enjoy, so very rare that his own mind didn't lace the urges with reticence.

But it was too late, ingrained misgivings were burned off; his blood was running too hot now, he'd been driven past the point of no return. He squeezed his eyes shut with the wonderful elation of that fact, and pushed his hand under his shorts, digging his muffling fingertips into his cheek as his fingers tightened and stroked. If he heard himself make a sound, he might lose this.

Heat broke over him under the blanket, skin tingling from it. Then he shook and curled around his middle as slippery warmth covered his fingers.

He peeled his hand off his face, brushing fingers to his temple to find sweat dampening his hair, and awkwardly pushed the blanket down, struggling to keep his breathing even. Swallowing, mouth dry, he lay still a moment. Muffled movement in various other parts of the room unnerved him. Others were awake. A goldflight, then. It had been expected for a few days now.

Quietly, somewhat shakily, Neji pulled his ejaculate-coated hand from his shorts, and sat up to wipe it on one of the corners of his blanket at the foot of his bed. He was on laundry rotation this week, he reasoned guiltily, it wouldn't matter.

Sinking back onto his side, Neji closed his eyes. swallowed again, and let out a slow, even breath, silent and controlled. Already the sensations from his dreams were fading, and he reached for them, trying to grasp as much detail as he could. These rare dreams were all, so far, that had ever dragged him past the uncomfortable hesitation that always killed whatever desires prompted him to try this on his own.

He gathered what memories of the dream he could, revisited them now, relaxed, the deed accomplished, no pressure, just afterglow.

Had Naruto been awake for this as well? The thought occurred to him as he stared upward, eyes unfocused.

He liked the idea.

* * *

The next evening, the game of cards that Neji had been roped into playing was momentarily disrupted when Naruto skidded into the knot of candidates. Kiba had just dealt the next hand of Drudge, and everyone looked briefly up from their cards as Naruto greeted them all. He caught Neji's eyes last of all, and his eyes gained an added twinkle. Neji stared back, caught, and he knew his reaction was telling, because Naruto's eyes narrowed with sharpened interest.

A slight pause, and then Naruto's eyebrows twitched up in a silent question, the corners of his mouth turning the grin smug with the sudden mutual understanding.

The grin was infectious, the private exchange over everyone's heads strangely thrilling. Neji smiled slightly in return, feeling unaccountably daring and, yes, smug, and for a moment Naruto's face simply shone. Triumph, bright joy, a glinting thread of lust swaddled quickly in something softer.

Then his eyes unfocused, gaze dropping slightly and turning inward, and Neji recognized the look of a rider speaking to his dragon, perhaps explaining the reaction he'd just had. Neji had a moment of misgiving—had Uzuth been distressed by this? But no, Naruto's expression wasn't worried, only fond.

Kiba was grumbling about being the drudge this round, "Sakura, here you go," he tossed two cards to her, and Neji was jolted back to the game, looking at his own hand and reordering the cards to his satisfaction. Naruto was too late to join the round, and he came around the circle as Sakura played her first card and sat where he could look between Neji and Shino and watch the game.

Neji was very aware of Naruto's nearness, it was distracting, but in a welcome manner. The self-consciousness arising from it was nothing he couldn't handle. Without Naruto in the candidate group anymore, the heightened sense of him when they did meet was something Neji now looked forward to.

He was guiltily glad there would be no opportunity to do much more than exchange those knowing looks, the very thought of anything more overt made him very uncomfortable, but he didn't feel any pressure anyway. Like him, Naruto seemed quite content with just the acknowledgement, and enjoying the shared secret.


	14. Chapter 13 Touching Base

**Chapter 13: Touching Base**

The beach at the Weyr lake was dotted, as usual, with dragons lounging in the sand, the hot, the sunny restday also urging a good many dragons and humans to take a swim. A group of new graduate pairs were taking turns buzzing the water from the rocky wall that rose from the north side of the lake, their riders jumping off and tucking into balls to compete for the biggest dragon-propelled splash.

Under the trees on the point of grassy earth that split the beach on the southern side of the lake in two, some of the youngest dragonets and their weyrlings were in the dappled shade, the weyrlings using special hide-oil to attend to the dry spots on stretched-out skin. Dragonets grew quickly, and every irritation had to be tended before it developed to rash or infection. Flawed, easily-split hide in grown dragons made flight painful and dangerous.

That, and the dragonets loved the attention. Uzuth was no exception, stretching and twisting like a cat under Naruto's ministrations.

Nearby, Shikamaru was finished. "C'mon," he said with a backwards arching stretch, loosening muscles and relieving his stiffened spine after having been bent over during his oiling. Narath stretched too, yawning, eyes a happy blue, and bounded around Shikamaru's feet as they headed away from the trees towards the low hill a few dragonlengths away. Then Shikamaru stopped, and Naruto followed his suddenly pleased gaze to see Chouji and Neji heading towards them.

Beyond them, a gaggle of candidates was splashing into the lake, though none from the smaller group he had been part of—most of them had passed by already. He wasn't that surprised the two approaching weren't swimming. Neji got shy, though he'd never call it that, the scars from the wounds he'd arrived with visible enough that he preferred to avoid stares, and Chouji took teasing about his weight poorly enough when he was covered up, never mind stripped for swimming. Both had a select few they'd tolerate bathing with, and neither swam in the lake very often.

They split up, Chouji falling in with Shikamaru and heading for the hill. Fine cloud-watching there, though today was a bit too clear for it.

Neji continued towards Naruto, and he waved his oil cloth at him as he closed the distance

Y_ou are so happy all of a sudden! _Uzuth said, waking from his half-doze, mindvoice contentedly surprised. He rolled over from his undignified position on his back, settling upright on his belly, flapping his temporarily squashed wings out and dropping his jaw in a welcoming grin. _Oh, it's a special one. _Uzuth applied that label to a few particular people. Master Iruka and Sakura both had been referred to as such before as well._ Why has he not visited before?_ _Left wingshoulder, _he added imperiously, and Naruto laughed, soaking the cloth briefly in the oil pot again before obeying his dragon and getting the flaky spot just behind the indicated joint.

_You guys still sleep a lot, so he hasn't had a chance to see you awake, lazy-tail,_ Naruto answered, _You're almost the only one left awake now, too_.

_Not the only one,_ Uzuth replied, amusement suffusing their bond.

"Neji!!" Lee sang out, and Roth called a shrilled little bugle, both their energy levels apparently as high as ever. Protests and growls rose from the other weyrlings and dragonets disturbed by the volume, even some distance away, and Lee winced at himself. "Sorry!" he called to those in the vicinity, chagrined, but still waving at Neji.

Neji smiled as he closed the distance, and Naruto reined in his thoughts before they could stray anywhere that Uzuth would get confused about.

Still working Uzuth's itchy patch, Naruto settled for a "hey," and a laughing roll of his eyes as Lee launched into exuberant and happy greetings. Naruto watched Neji greet Roth with as much politeness as he would any human, bending slightly down to nod formally at her. The little green obediently nodded in return. She, like most dragons, had a passing interest in humans that weren't her rider, but little more than that.

She waited patiently, then finally yawned as Lee described the weyrling's latest training (new, more complicated marching patterns), and Lee interrupted himself. "Oh, she wants to sleep on her couch! We will have to see you another time," Lee excused himself and Roth, and Neji headed for Naruto and Uzuth.

"Hey!" Naruto said again, a little selfishly pleased that he now had Neji to himself.

"Hello," Neji said. "Good afternoon, Uzuth, it's good to meet you, again." he said to the little bronze, and Uzuth nodded back, still grinning, eyes sparkling happy blue-green.

_He is very polite. I like him_. Uzuth said, very pleased.

"He likes you," Naruto laughed, looking up at Neji, who still stood just in front of Uzuth.

"I'm flattered," he answered, looking like he meant it. Uzuth tilted his head and half-closed his eyes, presenting his head to be scratched, and Neji glanced over at Naruto.

"Go ahead, scratch along there," Naruto directed, showing him the exact spot on the Uzuth's left eyeridge. Neji's eyes widened, and Naruto smiled at him encouragingly. Neji looked like he'd just been handed a great honour, which was a bit silly, but then Neji knew a lot more about real formality than Naruto ever would.

_Well,_ _I **am** bronze. We will be weyrleaders someday,_ Uzuth said, without a single shred of either modesty or arrogance, only a certainty that made Naruto nod slightly, _but I don't want to them to be all stiff about it. They are all important to you, and me._ Uzuth blinked at Neji, who finally extended a hand to gently rub at the bony ridge over Uzuth's faceted eye. _He is important in a **particular** __way_, _though,_ he added, and Naruto squelched a flicker of worry that he'd let something inappropriate come to Uzuth's notice. But no: _just like Umith's rider is. You have a love for people that's like a big blanket for everyone in the Weyr, but some people have special blankets to themselves._

_Yeah... yeah... that's a good way of describing it,_ Naruto said, finishing his massage of the no-longer-flaky spot at Uzuth's wingshoulder.

* * *

Neji carefully rubbed at Uzuth's eyeridge, then switched to light scratching as the little bronze leaned into the touch. He had never forgotten the first dragon-smile, back nearly six weeks ago on the hatching sands, but he hadn't really thought it was more than the general happiness of the event. This second one, at his mere approach, was unexpected and reassuring.

He glanced towards Naruto, watched him rub with tiny finishing motions at a spot on Uzuth's back. His expression was amazing. Shifting slightly with whatever silent dialogue Naruto was holding with Uzuth, Neji saw it move through amusement and mild worry to soft, deep contentment. Once he sat back from his oiling, he turned that very expression on Neji, and it struck him deeply, filling him to the brim with warmth.

The moment stretched, then Uzuth nudged him—he'd stopped his scratching—and he took a breath and attended the little bronze's eyeridge. Naruto's more usual grin made everything normal again.

"What do you think? Bit more fun when he's awake, isn't he?" Naruto patted Uzuth's back ridge lovingly and squeezed what oil he could out of the cloth and back into the pot before folding it in half and draping it over the lid.

Uzuth snorted, but didn't shift from under Neji's hand.

"He looks so much bigger, already," Neji said, leaning slightly to take in the full length of the dragonet.

"Almost half again as big as when he hatched," Naruto nodded, fairly glowing with pride. Uzuth shifted his wings smugly as well.

Nearly nine feet long already. And he could grow as long as forty or so. How much farther ahead would Naruto get before Neji was chosen, if he was chosen?

He didn't want to sink back into the post-hatching melancholy that had hung over all the candidates for the first few days after Uzuth's clutch had hatched, but he'd spent so much time and energy in various fits of fear and anger and disorientation about Naruto during their time together, and so few in that warm state that let Naruto smile at him that way, and let them share silent, smug conversations about nighttime activities, that he sometimes despaired at the daunting length of training that stretched ahead of them for anything else, even if half the time he was unnerved by... well, anything else.

_We'll wait for you, then,_ he heard suddenly, and jerked his gaze to stare at Uzuth. Faceted eyes stared calmly back, and the little bronze nuzzled lightly at Neji's stilled fingers.

"I—He—" Neji said. He looked at Naruto, stunned, and was met with elation.

"I heard. He really does like you, see?" Naruto's eyes were alight, and Neji nodded slowly, still shocked. Being spoken to directly was nothing like catching the edge of Maith's panicked sending. Uzuth's mindvoice sounded in his head very like Naruto's voice did in his ears, but the flavour of it, the personality differences, made it distinct.

"We'll wait," Naruto repeated his dragon's words, his wide smile briefly fading to simple honesty, and Neji nodded a last time.Uzuth caught the cuff of his sleeve in his teeth and tugged downward. Naruto chuckled. "He wants you to sit down."

"Far be it from me to disobey a bronze," Neji said, ducking somewhat exaggeratedly at Uzuth's expectant expression. He settled cross-legged next to Naruto. Uzuth yawned massively and then he rolled onto his back, wings folded tightly under him, presenting Naruto with an expanse of smooth bronze belly and plopping his head in Neji's lap.

Naruto started rubbing idly at the dragonet's chest, tickling and lightly scratching. "You've got the head, I guess. What a spoiled little brat," he added to Uzuth, putting both hands on him and shaking him gently, finishing off with two loving pats. Uzuth only shifted and sighed heavily, his breathing slowing. He dropped off with surprising speed, and soon a slight whistling snore came from his nostrils.

Stroking lightly at the tender skin under Uzuth's jaw, Neji considered Uzuth. "He doesn't seem the jealous type," he commented. His other worry, distinct from the endless wait, was that Uzuth—entirely justifiably—would want to keep his rider to himself.

"Really not," Naruto laughed. "He loves everyone."

Neji smiled slightly. Uzuth really had matched himself to the perfect rider.

A surge of muddled envy and happiness and longing and loneliness and pleasure flooded through him then, the same complicated muddle that often struck him when his thoughts turned to Naruto, and he was glad Uzuth was asleep.

He was so glad that Naruto had Impressed bronze, so envious of the Impression. He missed Naruto, a constant gnawing, a constant empty space. He was beyond thrilled that Naruto would share Uzuth, that Uzuth would share Naruto this way.

But he had fallen behind. He wanted to catch up.

All there was to do was wait.


	15. Chapter 14 Next Impression

**Chapter Fourteen: Second Impression**

It was so hot in the bowl, unseasonably so for an early fall evening, that the transition to the sands was almost unnoticeable aside from the shifting give under their feet.

He felt the vibrating hum of the dragons down to his bones, and Neji swallowed, his mouth drying with nervousness, despite this being the second hatching he was standing for.

All of the candidates were excited and agitated, but it was easy to tell those who had stood for Impression before. They were brimful with anticipation, but with none of the tension of the first-timers, who clung and squealed and shook with obvious nervousness.

They all filed onto the sand, white robes sticking to them as they sweated, overheated and fidgety.

Junior queen Harith was pacing slowly on the other side of the oval sands, eyes red-tinged with wary maternal hostility as she watched the candidates over the eggs she'd tended for three months, highly critical of these youngsters coming to take her children away. Shizune walked with her, one hand on Harith's wide flank.

The eggs had been painstakingly arranged, the gold placing each in a spot all its own, the formation ending up as multiple neat, curving rows that sat like an audience before the one egg whose shell announced without any question what color dragonet it housed. The gold egg was a third again as big as the biggest of its clutchmates, all of whom bore mingled streaks of all the colors.

"Good luck!" Tenten said fiercely, leaning close, her eyes wide and excited

"Good luck," he replied, nodding slowly.

And then Tenten straightened back up and Neji forgot his hatching worries altogether when his field of vision was suddenly clear all the way to the stands.

Past Tenten, past Kiba and Shino and Sakura and the fifteen other candidates between Neji and the stands, three familiar figures were seating themselves in the front row.

And he should have known, for the gold egg would warrant such attendance, even if it was a junior gold's clutch, even if it was only for ceremony's sake, but he'd not once considered it. Still, there they were.

Lord Hiashi of Hyuuga sat regally in the first row, shoulders square, back stiff and straight. Next to him Hanabi, with a studied poise of her own, suitable for the heir of the hold. Naota on the Lord's other side, servile, but stiff and stern.

The heat under his feet, the vibrating weight of the dragons' hum in the air, the din of the crowd all dwindled to nothing and Neji felt clammy grasping fear at his throat like he hadn't in months, fear as reflexive, automatic, and all-consuming as though he had left Hyuuga only yesterday.

He stepped back half a pace, hiding himself among the line of candidates, and looked in the other direction down the line. Hinata was near the other end, stuck having arrived almost last in line last after running from her chore assignment at the stables. With the arc of the line, they would be able to see her without difficulty. She saw him looking, and met his gaze for a moment before sliding her eyes away without any change of expression. They wouldn't follow her gaze to his spot. It was a small relief, and a deep appreciation of how much more confidant she'd become, in her mild but determined way, in her time here at Konoha.

"What's wrong?" Tenten nudged his shoulder, and he looked at her. Her eyes widened, and Neji realized he was rattled enough that it showed.

"Nothing," Neji muttered stiffly, and she gave him a narrow-eyed glower, but let him be. He scanned the audience again, careful to stay out of line of sight of his uncle and cousins. There were Naruto and Lee and Shikamaru a few rows behind and to the right of the Hyuuga contingent, a much more friendly set of gazes. Naruto saw him looking and waved vigorously, elbowing Lee, and the both opened their mouths, and Neji froze inside. If they shouted his name…

But Shikamaru grabbed Naruto's shirt and clamped a hand over Lee's mouth, and then pointed, and Neji watched Naruto's expression go dark with hostility. Lee's face turn from confused and indignant to sad and concerned as they listened to Shikamaru. Then Naruto looked again at Neji, shrugging one shoulder with dismissive contempt in the Hyuugas' direction.

Neji felt shaky relief, and knew he owed Shikamaru thanks after this was over.

He turned back to the eggs. The former nervousness had gone now, numb dread creeping over him instead, and he hated that his past was back to plague him, was destroying such an occasion as this.

Naruto was still watching him, he could feel it. A short glance back confirmed it. Naruto's jaw was set, worry and anger in his face, but he pulled on an encouraging grin when Neji looked, and despite the situation, Neji was comforted, just slightly, just enough to stop his dread from eating further into him.

He unfocused from the sands in front of him, pulling forward his memories of Naruto's stubborn desire to help, right from the start, that first happy shout in the dining hall, that persistent, open-minded readiness to know Neji and even worry about him, kind hands against his inflamed back, all those many months ago. Those hands had pulled him towards the solid, secure community of the Weyr, and into the most confusing, difficult and wonderful relationship he'd ever had with anyone.

What he'd left to gain all that... Hyuuga had felt like a lifetime ago, until this moment.

But—no. No. He clenched his jaw. The Hyuuga couldn't touch him anymore. He'd left them and found his own place. They could not drag him back. He forced his eyes to focus properly on the eggs once again, hearing the sounds of the crowd and the other candidates.

The hum was intensifying, and almost everyone's eyes had come to rest on the clutch, the audience's clamor organizing as many fell silent, while others called bets on which egg would spill its occupant out first, because they weren't just twitching now. There was real movement, eggs tilting back and forth. First a few, and then they all were rocking in earnest as the dragonets fought their way out.

One near the left edge burst open first, splitting down one side before simply falling to pieces and tumbling a blue onto the sand. Muted chuckles could be heard as he scrambled to his feet.

He got to all fours and bowled past the eggs in his way to get to the open sand before the line of candidates. He shook himself, stretched, and then headed steadily and without hesitation towards a spot about ten people to Neji's right.

Neji turned back to the eggs. They all were rocking hard, some had tipped over the lip of their particular mound of sand. Three broke apart at once, three greens made their clumsy ways towards the line of candidates.

One of them, a pale, skinny green with slightly more coordination than the other two pulled ahead and moved in Neji's general direction. He swallowed, unable to think as she approached, but she ignored him and instead went onward to meet Tenten.

Neji let out a pant of guilty relief, and then managed a smile for Tenten as she crouched to greet the little green. "Shoryuth… hello," she smiled, stroking the green's skinny neck.

He held the smile as Tenten looked happily up at him for a moment, before rising and hurriedly shepherding her hungry new partner back to the feeding area. Master Gai met her, and Neji caught the edge of the ensuing effusive praise as they moved away.

The second green had chosen a young man so new Neji didn't know his name. Another met Ino, but Neji couldn't make out her name from his spot.

And after that they all seemed to be coming at once, a wave of blue and green, a brown here and there.

Just past Kiba, on Neji's other side, a blue tackled Shino, and the tall, silent boy looked completely still with amazement, as much emotion as Neji had ever seen on him.

"Aburath," he said softly, and stared, frozen, until Kiba shook him, grinning.

"Take him back there," Kiba prodded his friend. Shino nodded slowly. Aburath caught a mouthful of robe and led him, and Kiba guffawed. "He's the perfect one for you!"

"Go on, feed him!" Chouji laughed from beyond them, still grinning as Master Kurenai came to accompany the new pair.

About half had emerged from their eggs by now. One egg straight ahead of Neji fell over and rolled once before a green kicked her way out, looking indignant. She shook herself once, spraying sand and eggshards, then made for… yes, Hinata.

Hinata covered her mouth with her fists in a moment of disbelief, blinking widely down at the dragonet, who waited, shifting with reined-in excitement. Hinata sank to her knees and the little green tackled her properly, claws tearing a few rents in the white robe as she tried to wrap herself around her chosen one.

Neji stepped forward a pace, leaning to hear when the green's name was spoken. Hinata was flushed and smiling, and clearly taken with her new partner. She did, however, look up. Her gaze went straight to his, sharing a joy that made him once again deeply thankful that the both of them were here, at Konoha, and free to be that happy.

Then a shriek from the stands cut through the general excitement. "Naota!" Hanabi's high voice snapped, cutting through the din straight to Neji's ears.

Neji realized how exposed that step forward had made him, and spun to look. He stared across the expanse of sand straight at Cousin Naota, whose pale face was reddened with rage as he leaned over the low barrier wall between the stands and the sands.

Then he drew his utility knife and jumped over it.

Time stretched, heartbeats marking lengths that felt like hours.

Harith lurched her massive body to all fours and roared in fury, shaking the chamber with her voice, but she remained crouched where she stood, eyes blazing red, unable to move lest she injure a scrambling dragonet or a frozen human.

All sound ceased in the crowd, just for a moment, as the gold bellowed.

Neji stared in disbelieving shock, unable to process just how these two parts of his life were colliding.

The other candidates were gaping, immobile.

Naota wasn't far off. Two dragonlengths, if that.

Naota was trying to kill him. Here, now. Neji turned cold inside, the old simmering rage from his former life solidifying into a seamless fury. Let him just try…

And then the moment of shock was over, and the cavern was in chaos, people shouted and screamed, and wind gusted everywhere, sand being driven up in stinging waves. Furious roars echoed from above and Neji squinted upward for an instant, ducking instinctively under the onslaught of noise from the angry dragons on the tiers overhead. Some took flight, struggling for wing room in the limited space of the cavern, Master Kakashi's blue Hataketh was hovering immediately over the eggs, Master Gai's bronze Maith just above, and neither had enough room to land, or even the space to move to try and catch Naota.

The weyrlingmasters were sprinting for him, but they'd been occupied with the newly Impressed. They wouldn't reach him before he reached the spot where Neji stood, and Neji was still struggling to put everything together when a new chorus of enraged, piercing screeches cut through the chaotic tumult.

As one voice, screams and squawks and painfully high-pitched squealing roars of fury tore at Neji's ears as every dragonet still on the sands turned towards Naota, stumbling towards him as fast as their unsteady legs would carry them. Heavily influence by the protective rage of their mother and elder cousins, they were the only ones small enough to move, and so they did what every dragon above them wanted to do, and charged.

Neji's heart dropped through the floor at that. His notions of vengeful confrontation vanished into dreadful urgency, and he bolted towards his cousin. If Naota killed a dragonet, Neji would see him dead.

But he didn't get there first.

A tumbling, red-eyed tumble of bronze flapped awkwardly over the sands from the lowest ledge; a five-month-old weyrling dragon only just able to support his own weight in flight but still more manoeuvrable than all the fully-grown dragons in the confined space available.

His little roar held a hint of the resonance it would have when he was grown as he wove clumsily below his larger fellows, nearly skimming the tops of the candidates' heads with his claws as he went overhead.

The bronze checked the Hyuuga servant's motion before anyone else, with claws and teeth bared. They tumbled together, the young bronze's body length three times that of the man's height, but half of that was lashing tail. Naota bellowed incoherently, and the bronze's screaming squeal communicated his fury equally as effectively. Neji saw his cousin's knife rise, plunge down, and come away dripping green dragon ichor as Uzuth's screech tore the air.

Another roar, this one a perfectly familiar voice, and Neji saw Naruto midway through shoving his way down the stands, knocking people aside without a thought as he made for the grappling pair.

Naruto reached the sands in seconds and vaulted over the wall. He headed straight for the melee, a no-holds-barred charge, so that when he got close enough he rammed Naota, dislodging his dragon and bearing the Hyuuga servant down onto the sand. Uzuth tumbled back, claws bloody, and paced, snarling inaudibly in the chaotic din, waiting for a moment to jump back in.

Neji reached them at last, but was forced to a halt by the dragonets surrounding the fight,

Ringed around them were green and blue and brown, jaws gaping with tinny roars, eyes blazing crimson, and there was a gold… the gold had hatched and she joined the line of her siblings, joining her voice to theirs.

Hataketh hovered awkwardly over the melee, unable to land, but the only thing that could be holding the dragonets back from risking themselves.

He couldn't stop Neji, however, and Neji began to push his way between immobile and uncooperative dragonets, slow and clumsy as his eyes darted back and forth between the fight and where he was putting his feet.

The two wrestled briefly. Naruto was a strong man, and he fought viciously against the one who'd hurt his dragon, but Naota had murder in his eyes, and a knife in his hand. He twisted that hand free between them, and stabbed.

Uzuth, snarling with rage, struck them just as the knife struck Naruto, and Neji went still, sickened as he saw the knife, red-sheened with human blood, tear through the young bronze's wing membrane.

Naruto rolled off, hands bloody and clutching his side. Uzuth stood, shaking, torn between attacking and tending his rider.

Neji began, again, to try and push between the dragonets in his way, seeing nothing but red.

And then a bundle of screaming blue flung himself onto Naota. It was a hatchling, almost laughably small in comparison to Uzuth's much larger bulk. But no less enraged. He landed onto Naota's chest, newborn claws sharp as Uzuth's and raking. He clamped tight jaws around Naota's wrist, sending the knife falling to the sand.

At that moment, Neji was consumed with a blindly protective rage such as he had never known. The sheer impact of it staggered him, engulfing his initial fury like a bonfire consuming a spark, and then it filtered into his mind that the rage was not his, exactly. There were words in it that didn't come from him.

…_Mine and you will hurt for hurting **him**, and hurting **them**, you won't get near, I will stop you, for them and for him, he is MINE_…

The weyrlingmasters were coming, Neji became aware of them in his peripheral vision, wading through the crowd.

The dragonets still wouldn't give him room to move and he finally stopped trying, panting and staring instead.

_Stop it_, Neji begged silently, struggling with the torrent of emotion flooding over him, _stop it, let them have him. _

The gold seemed to be of similar opinion, and she squeaked an imperious sound, and all the dragonets around her, as well as the dragons overhead, fell silent.

The blue flinched and stopped his vicious mauling with obvious reluctance.

Uzuth staggered over to sink down next to Naruto, panting heavily, and Neji could see the bleeding gash in his side from the first wounding.

The blue disengaged more slowly, dragging claws and teeth free of the bloody cloth they'd sunk into and finally backing off, still growling in the back of his throat., only letting go completely as Master Kakashi reached them. He moved backwards awkwardly, wings flapping in anger and tail thrashing, glaring at Naota until Kakashi had passed through the ring of dragonets, Iruka and then two healers immediately behind him.

Naruto was coughing and gasping, and Kakashi paused a moment to crouch, touch Naruto's shoulder and Uzuth's muzzle and speak a few quiet words before stalking onward to Naota. Iruka knelt, gently prying Naruto's hands away from his injury as the healers arrived, then letting them take over and joining Kakashi over Naota.

The healers got to work immediately, and Neji was minutely reassured when he realized there was no foreboding or desperation in the expressions of either one, only sympathetic concentration for both Naruto and Uzuth. Perhaps all the blood was misleading.

Despite the horrible worry, Neji felt his own gaze pulled inexorably toward the little blue who still stood, eyes blazing red and wings rigidly extended, a mere foot from the glaring and bloody Naota, the roiling emotions in him ebbing enough to separate his from the dragonet's.

_am Byakuth,_ the blue said firmly as he turned from Naota at last, eyes still red, but the color fading back to orange, I _and he will__** not **__hurt you._

_He won't,_ Neji agreed, completely torn between the trembling aftermath of the attack and the enormity of this dragonet staring him in the face.

Neji's stomach assaulted him with sympathetic hunger pangs, but Byakuth said nothing about them, turning back again to the target of his anger.

Neji dragged his attention from Byakuth to meet Naota's enraged and bloody visage as he was manhandled upright, none too gently, by Kakashi and Iruka. They made no allowances for the wounds the young dragons had inflicted. Both weyrlingmasters wore identical expressions of furious contempt. Naota jerked against their grip when he got his feet under him, eyes fixed on Neji. It horrified him, the depth of hatred in that bloody, contorted face.

"Filthy bastard, daring to rise above your station," Naota spat, "traitor to the Family! I'll kill you!"

"Naota." The voice was casually contemptuous, snapping through the crowd, and Neji saw the Lord Holder, face impassive, standing behind the wall. "You forget your place. Take him," he waved to the weyrlingmasters, "His actions are his own. I'm certain the dragons will corroborate that." Disbelief and indignation rose from the crowd at the Lord's demeanour, and the dark stares from the weyrlingmasters were barely less hostile than their reaction to Naota, who had gone deathly pale under the blood on his face.

"Clear the stands!" Master Asuma barked, and people began to move, the Lord Holder and Hanabi among them. They were stopped by angry riders, but the group parted after only a moment, letting them through with hostile disgust. The dragons did indeed know, but watching them walk away filled Neji with nothing but bile.

A rush of comfort swelled into his mind, surrounding him like a warm, use-softened blanket, with steely protectiveness just beyond, and he blinked, drawn back to Byakuth's jewel-like eyes, orange gone, the blue-green colour of happiness now bright and clear in each facet, satisfied now that Naota was neutralized as a threat.

But Naruto—

_Uzuth hurts, but he breaths and moves, and his rider is the same. They are safe, _Byakuth said, and Neji's instant gratitude for that information made the little blue raise his head higher with pride. Just as strong, there was an adoration for injured dragon and rider both. _Uzuth is the best,_ Byakuth declared, _He is brave and strong. I know his rider must be the best, too. _The blue was secure in that logic, and Neji could only agree.

The threat dealt with, all the dragonets were turning away as well, turning to their chosen riders. Even after the uproar, Impression had to go on. Tn a strange reversal of the hatching tradition, candidates were moving to meet the dragonets, drawn, Neji realized. by the awareness of emotions not their own, just as he had been.

A tiny blue fidgeted and flapped, blocked by the movements of his clutchmates, squawking until Chouji waded through to meet him, grinning widely and pointing already towards the feeding area.

A bronze had to wind his determined path past the others to finally lean happily against his target—Kiba. Akamaru hung from folds of Kiba's robe to croon lovingly at him as Kiba's face broke into a grin.

The gold had no such difficulties, her siblings making instinctive way for her as she chose her way, met at a careful, awed pace by Sakura, and Neji watched them. Sakura was smiling, glowing with happiness, but so composed, except for a spark behind her eyes that Neji suspected meant her true elation was much greater than what he saw.

Byakuth was coming to Neji, a trundling, bulky dragonet, sturdy, and steady on his feet. He cuddled heavily against Neji's legs, radiating love and protectiveness through the gnawing birth hunger, curling his tail around Neji's ankles.

_He isn't going to take you away_, Byakuth stated the fact again, like it was immutable law.

_No… _Neji thought back, _no, he's not. _Naota hadn't even touched Neji. But Naruto, and Uzuth…

Sakura came up next to him, both her gaze and her gold's intent on Naruto and the healers.

Naruto was on his back, shirt cut away as the healers applied temporary-looking bandages. Uzuth had been carefully loaded on a stretcher already and was being carried carefully away.

Eyes slightly glazed from anaesthetic, Naruto still smiled when he looked at them, the expression bleary, but real, and then his slow attention shifted downwards to Byakuth and the gold, and the smile widened, even as his eyes slid closed.

Asuma and Kurenai were starting to break up the crowd, and once the healers had moved Naruto to a stretcher of his own, Neji turned to head to the feeding area. Neji could see some of the others already starting to feed their new hungry partners chunks of meat.

When he glanced back to the still-noisy remains of the crowd and the dark spots in the sand where Naota and Naruto had bled, his stomach twinged with pain that had nothing to do with Byakuth's hunger.

_It's finished now, he's gone. You're mine and he can't have you,_ Byakuth said sternly, seemingly offended that Neji kept dwelling on it. _Uzuth made sure and Haruth says so. _Haruth? Neji looked down to see the little gold touching muzzles with Byakuth, and imparting a comforting nuzzle.

_I know, _Neji replied, though he still shook inside. He let Byakuth's mental warmth smother as many of the aftershocks as it could, and, remembering Uzuth's usual demand of him, he reached down to caress Byakuth's eyeridges, and the blue's blissful emotional response soothed him further.

"Yes sir," Sakura was saying to Master Asuma, and Neji nodded silently, moving automatically to follow them. Byakuth was now getting very interested in getting his first meal. He was looking ahead already; none of the fury that Neji had felt from him before lingered.

And Neji found himself smiling a little, despite everything, Byakuth's simple enthusiasm for the upcoming food impossible to avoid.

It was unfortunate that the post-hatching event was still ahead.

This was not how he'd anticipated this day. Neji watched—and felt—Byakuth fall asleep on his new couch, the sound of the other weyrlings in the barracks distant to his ears. He could drop the inner control over his reaction now, let the horror and anger out from where he'd crammed them. Byakuth remained thankfully oblivious, too deeply asleep now for the emotions to reach.

Neji wanted to be elsewhere, not surrounded by all the others, the others who kept looking at him sidelong, some of whom had offered words of comfort that he didn't want.

Hyuuga had followed him here, had made what was supposed to be a celebration into a near-disaster.

The scale of the ordeal was nothing like the attack of a few months ago, but, for Neji at least, the threat had been so much more personal, the exposure so much more naked, right in the middle of what was supposed to be a joyous event.

Uzuth could have been killed. Naruto could have been killed. Byakuth could have been killed.

The stocky little blue was not even an hour old, and Neji already understood why dragonriders who lost their dragons often killed themselves out of grief. The presence in his mind, the unflagging and unconditional love... the other side of that coin was the risk of loss beyond all reason or hope of recovery.

Worse still for the dragons. A rider's fate on losing a dragon was only probable suicide. A dragon's fate on losing a rider was instant, inevitable suicide **between**, even a hatchling.

It hadn't happened, but it could have. And he hated the Hyuuga for making it that way. To attack him, they had defiled an entire Weyr's experience.

He left the barracks, finding the hall between the boys' and girls' barracks clogged with weyrlings.

"Neji," A voice at his shoulder, and he turned abruptly, coming face-to-face with an abnormally subdued Lee and a very concerned Tenten.

"I'm fine," he snapped, jaw clenched. Lee's eyes were big and worried, and Tenten shook her head. "I'll see you at the party," he bit out, and shoved between them to keep moving, intending to find somewhere empty to be, and stay there. Hinata stepped into his path next and he had to jerk up short or collide with her.

She didn't say anything, only held his gaze a few moments. The understanding that was clear in her eyes took the sharp edge off his agitation. "I'll see you at the party," he said again, but this time he meant it.

She shouldn't have to endure her sister and father alone. He had to stand with her, for her, and for himself as well.

But not yet. Not yet.

He could leave her a little while without guilt—she wasn't without her own support. As she stepped aside for him to pass, she stopped next to Kiba, and Shino drew up on her other side.

Neji continued on his way, leaving the noise of the barracks behind him as he took a corridor that led away from the dining hall.

It felt like the Weyr was deserted when he got far enough that the din turned inaudible. The long, empty hallways held only the sound of his footsteps for long minutes, so that when he at last heard someone else coming towards him, he was startled from his funk by annoyance.

He quickly shoved the reaction down—it was Master Kakashi, Pakkun clinging to his shoulder. He paused when he spotted Neji.

"You're supposed to be at the gathering," was all he said.

"Yes sir," Neji's tone was only barely within acceptable politeness limits, but it was the best he could do. "What did you do with Naota?"

"Nothing yet," Kakashi answered, his one visible eye bored-looking as ever, but Neji suspected the truth was otherwise. "I have a feeling there's an island life in his future, though."

Exile to one of the mid-ocean prison islands, then. Neji nodded. He'd had to ask, but the very thought of Naota made his heart pound, his throat tighten, fear and anger twisting together in a jagged knot.

"I see," he answered, and heard his voice come out unevenly. Everything felt uneven right now.

"Y'know," Kakashi said, almost offhand, but his eye was sharp, "we told them to stay put. All the weyrlings. It was an order."

Neji blinked. It was true that any weyrling dragon in Uzuth's group could have done what Uzuth had. "He was protecting the hatchlings," he said, but Kakashi shook his head slightly.

"No doubt. They were all screaming to do that. It's natural. But Uzuth was following his rider's wishes too, and orders are nothing next to those." Kakashi was watching him consideringly now, and Neji felt guilt clutch at his heart with realization. "Yeah," Kakashi said, a bit dryly. "I think there was a bit of a specific grudge against Hyuuga on top of the rest."

"I…" Neji didn't know how to continue. Was this a warning? Were they in trouble? How much were the weyrlingstaff reading into this?

How could this evening get anymore mentally exhausting?

"Good that he did. They probably saved lives," Kakashi said, now perfectly serious. "Cut through the thinking and just did it. We aren't angry. We're not happy they're injured, but it would have been much worse."

Neji blinked vaguely, just listening, feeling like he was being jerked around on the end of a rope. Things were bad, they were good, wrong, right, fear, joy. Too much.

"For the other thing… you and him… just, keep it tame," Kakashi told him, and Neji made himself nod, inwardly unnerved that Kakashi was talking about… _that_ … at all, "that's all you have to do, all we can make you do. You have other priorities right now than who is in your bed." Neji nodded again, totally discomfited by even this level of discussion about something that wasn't even going on. Kakashi let out a huff that might've been a laugh. "Well, go see him. He's doped, but awake, for now," Kakashi added, and started to walk on, "Better hurry though."

Shaken, Neji watched the weyrlingmaster go until he turned the corner, then he walked on to where his feet, it seemed, had been taking him from the start.

Neji was at the entrance to the infirmary before it occurred to him that injured riders of injured dragons were generally bedded down in the dragon infirmary. But a journeyman healer spotted him before he could turn to continue onward down the corridor.

"Weyrling," the woman addressed him, and he did half-turn away before he understood that she was talking to him. Weyrling. Indeed.

Still operating well below his normal formality standards, he only turned back and waited.

"We're moving him soon, but you may speak to him."

"Thank you, ma'am," he replied, and headed for the alcove she pointed out. The blue fire lizard on her shoulder chirped quietly at him as he went by. Pakkun must have passed along instructions from Kakashi, in that case, and he felt a vague appreciation for that.

Iruka was sitting there speaking quietly, too low for Neji to hear, and Naruto said something back, pain-drawn face still full of cheek.

Rising as Neji neared, Iruka reached down and gently ruffled Naruto's hair before leaving, demeanour turning serious, if still relieved, and he nodded once to Neji. His typically open face as expressive as ever, a blending of encouragement and protectiveness when he met Neji's eyes.

Neji returned the nod with an abrupt one of his own. Iruka's eyes softened and he reached out to grip Neji's shoulder.

Before, Neji would've shied from the contact. Now he was grateful for it. Iruka let go after a few moments and headed for the healer, leaving him alone with Naruto.

Stepping forward at last to Naruto's bedside, he went still, suddenly awkward, unable to even properly look down at him.

"Hey," Naruto's weak voice didn't carry far, and Neji sat stiffly down on the stool by the bed, making himself look at Naruto's too-pale face. His half-lidded eyes revealed only a dim, if intent, bit of their normal blue.

He felt a surge of unexpected anger. Unexpected because it was directed not at Naota or even his uncle, but straight at Naruto. He struggled to shove it back down, but the fight was futile.

"What were you—how could you—you almost—" he gritted abortively, groping for a coherent thought, a reason why he was so angry instead of just grateful or relieved or something a good deal more appropriate.

Naruto met his glare with a steady look.

"You were ordered to stay put," Neji bit out, almost choked by the rising fury, "Master Kakashi said so. You had no reason to do anything like that." Surely he could've reached Naota in time on his own, if everyone hadn't gotten in the _way_ .

"Ev'ry reason," Naruto slurred. He clumsily pulled his arm from under the covers, reaching out with half-controlled motions, his limp hand finally landing and closing weakly on Neji's leg. Neji grabbed at it as it started to slide off. It was reassuringly warm.

"They would have taken care of it," Neji answered, but even as angry as he felt, he couldn't put any conviction into what he knew was a lie.

"Don' know that," Naruto said. "Hadta stop him." Then he blinked slowly. "Cause you were goin' for him too," Naruto smiled tiredly, secure in his logic.

Neji dragged a hand over his eyes, dropping his forehead to rest onto his palm, elbow on his knee, while his other hand tightened around Naruto's.

"An' it worked out," Naruto's tone was triumphant. "Ev'ryone's still here." His fingers curled around Neji's.

Thoughts cluttered Neji's mind, things both obvious and unexpected. _You can't die. __You said you'd wait for me. You can't do this to me, I need you. Don't let go of me. I was afraid. I'm not worth it. A_nd most of all_, Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. _"He could have killed you both," was all he said, and heard the ragged dread in his voice.

"M' fine," Naruto murmured, "They said… I'll be fine, an' Uzuth too," and Neji just shook his head and pressed his palm against one eye, then the other, squeezing damp back where it could not be seen, and looked back up at Naruto with a glare. Naruto smiled back at him, bleary but full of affection. "An' you can't be mad. Byakuth was tearin' 'im apart just as much."

Then there was commotion behind Neji, and he looked over his should to see Sakura, Lee, Chouji, Shikamaru, and others... it looked like half the weyrlings, mobbing the healer and Iruka.

Reluctantly, Neji replaced Naruto's hand on the bed as the swarm of weyrlings descended. Neji stayed seated on the stool for only a few seconds before he rose under pretense of handing the seat off to Sakura and quietly faded back and left them all to offer their praise and good wishes.

Exiting the infirmary he walked the long stretch towards the door of the dragon infirmary.

Neji had been to this cavern many times as a candidate, he remembered being daunted by the huge dragons stranded in varying degrees of pain on their stone beds. He'd grown used to it, but it was all new again—this was the first time coming in here that he knew one of the dragons.

Uzuth looked very small on the large stone couch he'd been given, lying propped awkwardly near the edge closest to the cot that his rider would soon occupy. Even though the young bronze was much bigger than Byakuth, he was dwarfed by the fully-grown dragons currently in the cavern to recover from threadscore.

As Neji approached, he thought Uzuth was asleep, but the blue-green eyes opened when Neji sat on the cot. Uzuth chuffed at him but stayed otherwise still, his position dictated by the need to keep his torn wing in a half-extended position on the wooden braces set up next to him.

The anger Neji had experienced face with Naruto surged again, infuriated a second time that they had acted so rashly, guilt dragging at him about how much worse it could have been. He shook his head, and reached out to rub gently at Uzuth's eyeridge. "You're both idiots," he muttered. Uzuth blinked at him and shifted his head slightly, and Neji got a distinct impression of indulgent amusement and shook his head, giving up. "Thank you," he said. He slid his fingers under Uzuth's chin for a brief rub. He stroked along his eye ridge until Uzuth closed his eyes and his distinctive whistling snore began, then stood up again with a sigh.

He felt wrung out. The last blast of anger seemed to have hit some threshold beyond which he could no longer react with much intensity.

In the corridors on the way back to the dining hall, he felt tired and rather detached. Byakuth's sleeping presence in his mind was a steady foundation for him to settle on, and he did just that. At a remove from everything, he slipped into the hall, looking for Hinata and cutting through the crowed, attracting gazes that he ignored.

The noise level was nothing like it had been at the party after the hatching of Uzuth's clutch. This time people were standing awkwardly in clumps, no loud singing or shouting to be heard, only subdued conversation.

Hinata stood in one tiny knot of people, herself, her father and her sister. Kiba and Shino were leaning against the nearest wall, staring blatantly at them. Kiba's expression was unfriendly well past the point of rudeness, even Shino's normally impassive face held a hint of dislike, but no one, not even weyrlingmaster Kurenai, who walked past them as Neji watched, corrected them.

Hinata herself was admirably calm. It would have been astonishing, had Neji not watched her get happier and stronger during her time here. She remained quiet and somewhat shy, often deferent, but not debilitatingly so. She'd gained her two close friends, but wasn't carried by them, only supported, and now she was bearing up steadily under her father's disdainful eyes.

Hanabi's expression was neutral, but Neji caught flickers in it. She looked oddly intrigued, rather than censuring.

The pretense of family meant Neji could walk directly to them and stand next to her.

Both his uncle and cousin glanced at him, even their manners unable to hold back the twitch of grey eyes.

Hinata looked around as well, and gave him a rather strained, but grateful, smile.

"Neji," Lord Hiashi said, tone controlled to icy coolness. He gave Neji a dismissive once-over and turned back to Hinata. And that was all.

A seep of tired, irrational frustration distracted his attention from the polite, empty words being exchanged. It was idiocy to want, to expect, more than that, he realized, but the disappointed irritation remained. And here he had thought that all he'd needed was to be forgotten. He'd been fooling himself. It seemed he did want attention after all, wanted his uncle to be forced to look at him as a person. This despite knowing the man would have been no less forgiving than Naota today, had Neji been caught on the road out of Hyuuga Hold.

Perhaps the most Neji could hope for was to be a source of embarrassment, he reflected, thinking of all the human diversity at the Weyr that would never be tolerated at Hyuuga.

The numb fatigue filling Neji now was a lucky thing, keeping him silent and outwardly cold. Acting out now would've been pointless anyway. But he wasn't going to leave. He crossed his arms across his chest and stood beside Hinata, entirely aware of the irony of the position compared to his old life. But it was silent support now, not mute, angry servitude, and he'd chosen it himself.

Hanabi said nothing, silent as per the traditional Hyuuga role for anyone who wasn't the Lord Holder, but she caught Neji's eyes, guiltily apologetic and oddly thoughtful.

So Hinata had been plucked from Hyuuga to fulfill one duty, Hanabi would remain to fulfill another. It seemed Hanabi wasn't the virtual copy of her father that Neji had always considered her.

It occurred to him that Hyuuga might not remain the lost cause he'd considered it to be.

When Lord Hyuuga excused himself to Hinata after a few more long, strained minutes that seemed to Neji to stretch forever, he turned and headed to the dining hall's exit without giving Neji another glance. Hanabi, trailing in her father's wake, broke Hyuuga poise completely to wave at her sister and sadly smile. The smile faded completely when she looked at Neji, only regret showing through. He nodded his head once and raised one hand in farewell.

She looked relieved, and turned away, hurrying to catch up to Lord Hyuuga.

Hinata sighed, and Kiba and Shino came up on her other side. "Fucker," Kiba snarled. "Are you guys alright?" He looked at Hinata, then leaned forward slightly to peer at Neji.

"Yes," Hinata answered tiredly. "But I'm glad they left."

"Hm," Neji agreed.

"How's Naruto and Uzuth?" Kiba asked, "We woulda gone with the rest, but since no one said emergency…" he shrugged and tilted his head towards Hinata, and Neji nodded.

"He looked… passable. It seems he'll recover completely. Uzuth as well."

"Phew," Kiba blew out a breath.

"Excuse me," Neji said, suddenly feeling exhausted. The highs and lows of the evening were stretching flat into fatigue. "I think I'll go to bed."

"Right, well. Congrats, before you go," Kiba told him. "Byakuth, right? He's a bit of a fighter, isn't he?" he teased.

Neji smiled a little at that, despite everything, and Kiba grinned approvingly. "That may be an understatement," Neji answered, "thank you. And congratulations to each of you," he trailed off a moment. "Aburath," he looked at Shino, who broke his characteristic still expression for the second time that night, to smile a small smile and nod. But Neji couldn't remember the others, though surely they'd been spoken in the din of the feeding area.

"Inuzuth," Kiba said, puffing his chest out proudly, "And your little lady…" he gently nudged Hinata with his shoulder.

"Juuketh," Hinata said, her smile sweet and proud, and Neji felt no need to suppress the smile that spread on his own face in reaction.

When Hinata darted forward to hug him, he sucked in a short breath in shock, the unexpected feeling of his cousin's arms around him, small but very strong, making him go still for a moment. Kiba was laughing, while Shino seemed to be commiserating. Neji found his senses again quickly, and hugged her back.

"I'm glad you're here," she said into his chest.

"I… I am too," he said. He felt terribly awkward, but that didn't seem to matter to her when she pulled back, looking almost as happy as she had on the sands today.

Neji left the dining hall in a far better mood than he'd entered. The undeniable pleasure of those who had Impressed—even his own—hadn't been stolen by the attack. Try as his normal pessimism would, even through all his anger, even thinking of Naruto and Uzuth in the infirmary, Neji had only to feel Byakuth's steady, contented slumber to be comforted.

That didn't nullify the other traumas of the evening, didn't wipe away the memories of Naota's face, of the knife, the blood and ichor, the roaring and screaming and throat-closing panic.

But dwelling only on those things would mean diminishing Naruto and Uzuth's efforts, and Neji refused to allow himself to do that.

He got back to the boys' barracks, slipping through the door. All the new hatchlings curled or sprawled asleep on their oversized-looking stone beds, their larger fellows almost all present as well, except for Uzuth, whose empty couch, Neji realized, was next to his and Byakuth's space. He recognized the messiness of the bed, the tunics and trousers spilling from the clothes chest, things he hadn't noticed before.

Byakuth had picked the spot; Neji had been entirely preoccupied at the time.

Neji smiled at his dragon's choice as he walked towards his bed. There wasn't a better place in the room.


	16. Chapter 15 Repercussions

**Chapter Fifteen: Repercussions**

"What? What? No! Master Kakashi, that's not--"

He was finally out of his sickbed, finally back to the barracks and class, the thread-cursed infirmary left for good, and now this?

The barracks were empty, and Naruto was glad of that. Mid-afternoon classes weren't over yet, so no weyrling riders were here to see this.

"It's final." Master Kakashi was unmoved by his protests, though he did show a moment of sympathy as he turned to leave. "It's only one class behind, Naruto. Uzuth's wing needs the rest, and so do you."

Naruto glowered rebelliously. So the wound in his stomach still hurt a little, but it had been a stab with a straight and apparently clean blade, nothing really important had gotten poked, and three weeks later, he could walk and run. Alright, yeah, maybe lifting things was still not allowed, but Uzuth's clutchmates were going to start flying soon. Flying _with their riders_…

"See you tomorrow morning, Naruto." Kakashi raised a hand, and left the barracks.

Naruto turned with an exaggerated sigh. His wound twinged, and he grumbled under his breath as he walked to his bed. Uzuth had already settled on his couch, proprietary now that he was back. He raised his head as Naruto neared, and Naruto ran his hands under the young bronze's jaw, resting his forehead on Uzuth's muzzle and sighing in frustration.

_I'm sorry I can't carry you yet,_ Uzuth apologized, and Naruto shook his head, lifting it to look into Uzuth's blue-green eyes.

_He's right_, Naruto replied, _you need to let your wing heal all the way, then fly on your own, do all that, get it back to normal first._ He still wanted to be with his… his _old_ group, Shikamaru and Lee and everyone, they were going to fly together, real dragonpairs, the first steps to being proper threadfighters… but he needed to wait. _Anyway_… he added, _it's not all bad._

Because he was out of the infirmary. Naruto looked to his left, past his own recently unused bed to the living space next to his. Byakuth and Neji. Right next to him. The elation the sight set off in him made him want to whoop and cheer, though he held it back to a very restrained leap onto Uzuth's couch and fist-pumping glee, while Uzuth rumbled with laughter and butted him in the chest.

_We're in their class, now, as well_, Uzuth noted, and Naruto beamed at him. Good point! No point in being depressed when he had that to look forward to.

Stomach aching from the jumping and flailing, he got down more carefully, and walked around to Neji's area, the perfectly-made bed and tidy side table taking him back so many months to their shared room. He reached out and picked up Neji's comb. It still had the missing tooth near one end, and the familiarity was almost painfully sweet.

Putting it down, he moved back to his own space, kicking open his clothes chest and rooting through it until he found a pair of nightclothes to shove under his pillow. Next came his rank knots, then finding his boots where they'd been tucked under his bed…

He was still in the process of making his area re-livable when noise in the corridor heralded the return of one group of weyrlings.

_It's Haruth's group_, Uzuth told him, referring to the class as usual by its highest-ranking member. Naruto grinned. He was out a day earlier than he'd told them.

He'd seen them all now and then during his the first part of his convalescence, and then last week he'd been allowed out to eat in the dining hall again, finally. That had made things feel almost back to normal for meals, and then so much worse again afterwards when he returned to the infirmary, but now he was finally back, well and truly. Well, fine, one class behind, but really, he'd already decided not to care about that anymore.

_They're our group too, now_, he reminded Uzuth, and got a contented rush of emotion in return, the images of a fierce, tiny blue and a steady, regal gold foremost among Uzuth's impressions of his new classmates.

Inuzuth was first through the door, Kiba on his heels, and the little bronze stopped abruptly, making Kiba stop short or trip over him, the halt piling Shino and Aburath into them along with everyone else.

Squealing, happy bugles came from all the three-week-old dragonets at once, combined with Kiba's shout of surprise. Uzuth came down from his couch to stand in the aisle, his comparatively miniature new fellows coming up to meet him. Byakuth shoved forward to cuddle right up against him, and Naruto was surprised to see Haruth, and Juuketh among the gang, and—he counted quickly—it really was the whole clutch! Even the girls' dragons!

Naruto could hear Uzuth explaining the new situation. Five months older, he looked huge compared to them. But the time it would take them all to reach the point in their growth that Uzuth was at today would allow the bronze to heal his delicate wingsail and then fly unhindered by a rider, to learn the new feel of his wing and gradually stretch the scarred skin back to safe use. When Byakuth and Inuzuth and all the rest were ready, Uzuth would be as well.

Naruto found Neji, finally, as he came into the room after Chouji, eyebrows almost hidden under his headband from the racket.

Kiba grabbed Naruto in a hug right then, and he returned the gesture, but he smiled at Neji over Kiba's shoulder at the same time. Neji smiled back. His usual restraint was being tested right now, Naruto saw, and warmth bloomed inside him that he'd caused that much reaction. Neji's expression changed fast enough to become a real open-mouthed smile, and his shoulders twitched like he'd laughed.

Kiba let go suddenly and jumped back, eyes going down to Naruto's midsection. "Fuck! Are you alright? I didn't bust anything, did I?"

Naruto rolled his eyes at him. "No, you moron." But his gaze went back to Neji, who was all the way inside now, the doorway behind him filling with the female weyrlings, drawn by their dragonets. Hinata looked slightly flustered, and Ino looked annoyed, but Sakura smiled at him.

Hands landed on his shoulders, and Naruto was shoved forward until he was in front of Neji, Kiba snickering behind him.

"Welcome back," Neji said, humor and happiness both in his voice.

"Thanks!" Naruto returned gleefully.

"Oh, is that all?" Kiba snorted. Neji looked fleetingly uncomfortable at that, before the reaction was hidden, and Naruto turned to glare at Kiba, who winced, and shrugged apologetically.

"You've really been… held back?" Neji asked, frowning for real now, gaze turning inward as though he was asking Byakuth for confirmation. Murmurs ran through the group, sounds of dismay making Naruto feel self-conscious, but also even more determined not to care.

"Yeah," he shrugged, "I missed a lot from the other class by now, and anyway Uzuth's wing'll need the time to get back to normal strength."

Neji's frown deepened infinitesimally. Naruto gave him a quick, stern look. _Tell Byakuth to tell Neji that if he pulls any guilt shit on me, I'm gonna… well, I'll think of something._

Mere moments of draconic message relay, and Neji's eyes widened, his frown becoming a quirk of amusement despite himself.

_Byakuth says he will try not to. He... adds that the guilt is also from his rider being happy about the new arrangement._

_Oh! Well… that's good._ Naruto gave Neji a satisfied look, and then turned to grin to everyone else. His shoulder bumped against Neji's, and he felt a brief return pressure. By the First Egg, it was so much better to be back.

* * *

It was unusual for Naruto to be at the head of the class, but he found himself in the unique position of knowing pretty much all the lessons, getting progressively more bored as they sat through lectures and demonstrations of things he was already very familiar with.

He did get to stand up and show off some things he had become a comparative veteran of, like the proper care of dragon hide, and the growth progression that Uzuth had already been through.

Uzuth liked the attention as well, always eager to stand in front of the group and show off, holding himself proud and authoritatively in front of his new, smaller classmates, who uniformly adored him, even Haruth, which tickled Naruto endlessly and he took frequent opportunities to make suggestive remarks to Sakura that resulted in (usually) pulled punches to the midsection or jaw that he took gladly. Bothering her in the same way he had before any of them had Impressed was something familiar, keeping an unspoken balance between them that left room for the one who wasn't there anymore.

But for the most part, Naruto just sat and listened through the classes. Or didn't listen, and so his attention wandered. Often to Neji. After the first few frowns of discomfited annoyance, Naruto stopped any blatant staring, but he worked out ways to watch him without bothering him. Neji was, after all, trying to pay attention properly.

His studiousness was endearing and fascinating—even the first time through all of this, bolstered by Uzuth's infancy and a real honest desire to know all this stuff, Naruto hadn't been so great at spending long periods sitting and listening. Neji was, though. He listened, and was really, truly attentive, taking in everything Master Kakashi or Kurenai or Gai or Asuma was telling them.

Since the Weyrlingmasters all had their particular areas of expertise, they were all involved in training every weyrling group, and were responsible for different sections of the schedule, though individual weyrlings were assigned to particular weyrlingmasters for more personal issues. Neji had been assigned to Master Gai, like Lee and Tenten, Naruto had gotten Kakashi, as had Sakura.

That didn't make Master Kakashi's current lecture series on the basics of flight patterns any more interesting, though, especially not on the second run-through. Two months into the second round of weyrling training, and the fun of knowing everything ahead of time was pretty well worn off. He didn't want to pay attention to Kakashi, so Naruto watched Neji pay attention instead.

It was a much better view. Neji was almost always quite still, grey eyes alert and attentive, without a single sign of sleepiness or boredom. While Chouji tried (and failed) to surreptitiously snack on candied fruit, or Ino folded her note paper into flowers or fish or dragons, Neji just listened and took notes. His face would change, just slightly, when something interesting or unusual came up, and Naruto enjoyed finding out what those times were.

The reasoning for certain formations in certain weather patterns made Neji frown slightly, his forehead creasing between his eyes just the smallest bit, he became pensive and took notes on why rainstorms or high winds required this or that formation and at which elevation. A few days later, Master Kakashi was getting into the point behind the central versus support positions in the various wing formations, and Neji only nodded every so often, still taking his usual thorough notes, but looking like it was all quite familiar.

Well... maybe it was. Naruto shifted in his chair and looked towards Hinata, who wore a very similar expression, though it was disrupted with quiet smiles or frowns at Kiba, who was slouched in the seat next to her and unable to keep still and quiet for more than a few minutes in a row.

Their old life would have some bearing on understanding defensive manoeuvres, Naruto guessed. From what he understood, Neji had been something like a manservant and bodyguard put together... well, if you added a significant portion of prisoner and slave to that mix. Dark thoughts of that man at the hatching surfaced, the same one, Naruto felt sure, that had beaten Neji before his arrival at the Weyr. He'd been raised as Neji had, his forehead branded... and there were other Hyuuga Cousins still there.

Neji was free, though, and he was good, now, happy with his life. Surely others would be happy too, if Hyuuga's tradition was abolished.

_It will happen, we'll see to it,_ Uzuth said, and Naruto nodded. He turned his attention back to Master Kakashi.

He managed to pay attention to the whole rest of the lecture, mostly because it ended early. There was a Threadfall tonight that would begin around the time that evening meal usually started, so the weyrlings were dismissed to join the rest of the Weyr for an early supper.

Evening Threadfall at this time of year would be a rough one, more dangerous even than nighttime Falls, where draconic eyesight could pick shimmery silver Thread out even if all the moons were dark. Evening Falls meant the sun would be in everyone's eyes. The Weyr was always a little tenser before one of these, and supper was a little subdued.

Afterwards, the non-fighting weyrlings and candidates gathered and formed the long lines to toss sacks of ore to where each fighting wing formed on the floor of the weyrbowl. Naruto had Neji ahead of him, and was happy to find Sakura behind him. Sakura always threw on target—Naruto didn't enjoy ending up in front of new candidates who threw short or long, or worse, too early. Getting hit in with a sack of rocks could send a person to the infirmary, and that was the last place he had any interest in going anytime soon.

Since people tended to line up with people they knew, however, most everyone in Naruto's vicinity was from his current or former class. He greeted Lee, in the next line over, with a grin, not hiding his envious look at the flight scarf now looped around Lee's neck. Weyrlings were issued the standard dark blue scarf when they began flying. Like the headbands, the scarves were embroidered on the ends with Konoha's leaf. Lee smiled proudly, and twitched the end dangling down in front of his green vest with a smile.

"Aren't you a little hot in that thing?" Naruto called.

"A dragonrider should wear his emblem proudly, regardless of comfort!" Lee replied, eyes bright with pride. Never mind, of course, that Shikamaru and all the rest of his classmates were sensibly unadorned. Naruto laughed, looking in front to share his amusement with Neji. Hopefully the quartermaster wouldn't mind issuing Lee another when this one wore out.

They all glanced up when Umith flew low over the ready lines. She gave a short bugle—the wings were ready and waiting, and Naruto turned in Sakura's direction, watching her turn towards Ino.

The firestone moved steadily along the lines. This chore didn't last very long—dragons were fed a sack's worth or so of firestone before they took off, and then each rider only took between two to six sacks of stone up with them, depending on the size of their dragon. Within half an hour, Naruto was breathing hard and shaking sweat from his bangs, but the last sack had left his hands, to be caught by Neji and thrown onward to Tenten.

He turned back to check, and Sakura waved, signalling that there was no more to come.

The even lines of weyrlings and candidates blurred as everyone shifted into loose groups. They were done their work, but watching the dragons take off and vanish **Between** was always a good show, and most people usually stayed to watch.

The weyrling dragons in the bowl and on the rim were just as interested. Uzuth's former clutch were mostly decorating the rim now, their bugling cheers of encouragement filling the evening air, while the younger set called upward from their lounging spaces on the slope outside the barracks.

The first wing rose, mid-altitude forward wing, Weyrleader Jiraiya the wingleader and flightleader on bronze Gamath at the head of the center line of a triple-line formation, one wingsecond at the head of each flanking line. Each dragon's wings beat in unison, holding them all in their precise positions. When they had risen to the level of the rim, the dragonriders vanished all at once, following a signal that Naruto couldn't see from this distance.

They would reappear a few minutes ahead of the leading edge of Threadfall. It fell this evening over farmland in the eastern part of the territory, and they would arrive in perfect formation, just as they had left. Just as Naruto and Uzuth would do someday. A little farther away now, perhaps, but—he glanced at Neji—worth the setback.

One by one, the rest of the mid-altitude wings ascended and followed, then high-altitude, then low, and last of all was the Queen's Wing. With gold dragons unable to process firestone like the rest—as well they couldn't, since it rendered greens sterile—and too important to risk losing in the main fight, gold pairs used flamethrowers to burn up whatever fell past the main group.

The Queen's Wing was the wing that all weyrlings first graduated into as full riders, and while at first glance it might be considered by to be the "easy" wing, without first-line contact with Thread… well. Tsunade was known to enjoy her liquor, and her card games, but Katsuyuth's rider wielding a flamethrower was almost a force of nature, and, as her portion of the weyrling curriculum demonstrated, she was adamant and unforgiving about the duty of her wing; the Queen's Wing was the final line of defense before errant Thread could fall to earth. This meant more vigilance, not less, on the part of its riders.

There was also a Weyrling Wing that participated in every Fall, led by the Weyrlingmasters in rotating wingleader position, but it flew support only, delivering further sacks of stone to re-supply full riders, so the dragonpairs stayed in the bowl until a third of the way into a Fall.

People started to disperse, slowly milling off to whatever they had to do this evening. Naruto was watching Lee show off his new scarf to Neji, who was patiently but sincerely admiring the thick weave. Chatter and laughter ran back and forth across the group with the usual high spirits following the witnessing of a takeoff.

* * *

Far away from the Weyr proper, where the riders met the Thread, something happened.

A mistake or a miscalculation or terrible luck. A dragonpair dodged, backwinging away from quick-blown Thread. The wingleader ordered shifting of the formation. Turbulent air blew ash from seared thread into a dragon's nostrils. The flinch cost time, the correction needed didn't happen quickly enough, and a web of tangled Thread struck the pair, wrapping hungry tendrils around both, burning through leather and hide and skin.

The dragon screamed. The rider died, shock claiming consciousness before Thread claimed life, and the dragon vanished **Between**, leaving a gap in the formation that the pair would never return to fill.

The fighting force knew it as it happened, dragons roaring and keening in grief. But they didn't falter, reflexes instilled from long training pushing grief aside. They shifted accordingly, and fought on.

Weyrling dragons felt the loss in the same instant, with none of the maturity of training or distraction of Fall to mitigate the impact. Their grief was as strongly felt as that of their elders, and it didn't stop.

And so the weyrlings suffered the same. The death exploded through the group like a glass jar shattering on a stone floor.

* * *

One moment Naruto was hearing Uzuth's conversational chatter to his smaller classmates, and then grief landed a crushing blow on all of them at once.

Conversations ceased with the abruptness of a blow to the solar plexus, chokes and gasps cutting off any more words Faces went pale. Some weyrlings stood stunned, some sank or crumpled to the ground as their young dragons poured all the loss that came with the death of a dragon into their riders.

_Gone, gone, gone, gone…_ Uzuth wailed in Naruto's mind, grief dripping thick from every word, _he's gone, he's gone…_ Try as he might, there was no escaping the effects of Uzuth's anguish, no distance he could put between them to diminish it, only enveloping distress that was so strong the sensation turned physical.

_Who??_ Naruto asked desperately, frozen in place and trying to breath through a choking tightness in his chest that he couldn't loosen, and the names Uzuth supplied were barely familiar, just enough to bring to mind a middle-aged woman and a blue dragon from one of the high altitude wings.

He hadn't known the pair, except by sight, but dragons mourned their own without prejudice. Naruto felt tears pricking his eyes from Uzuth's invasive anguish.

Around him, through the keening of the young dragons still on the rim and the rushing of blood in his own ears as his heart raced, he heard the sound of weeping, and he looked blankly over to see Ino burying her face in Chouji's chest, his big arms tight around her. Shikamaru, looking as dazed as Naruto felt, was leaning heavily against Chouji's side.

Swallowing around a thick lump in his throat, he felt a light touch on his wrist. Sakura, face flushed and tear-streaked and avoiding his eyes, was at his side, and he pulled her in without thinking. Her fingers twisted in his shirt and he rubbed his hand down her shaking back, the other arm locking automatically around her shoulders, clinging right back.

He swallowed again and blinked and sniffed, breathing through his mouth, and wished he could block out Uzuth's terrible, suffocating grief, but there was no dam for this flood. He wished he was back at the barracks, where their dragonets had been sunning on the warm rock outside the doors. Flashes of piling weight and warmth from Uzuth offered some kind of reassurance. The youngest dragonets were all together, converged in desperate desire for comfort upon the biggest one among them.

That wasn't so different from their human riders. While the candidates were milling around in relatively subdued distress, sad and quiet with the realization of what had happened, but by no means falling apart, the weyrlings were far more obviously affected.

Over Sakura's shoulder, Naruto found Neji, who was awkwardly holding up an armful of sobbing Lee, though he had help. Never one to do anything by half-measures, Lee had managed to grab on to both Neji and Tenten at once. Despite the uncertainty of Neji's grip on Lee's green-clad form, Naruto was sure Neji was just as glad as anyone for the contact. He seemed almost unaffected at first glance, but his face was strained and his eyes were suspiciously wet, and there was a flash of open pain when he met Naruto's gaze, before it moved on, seeking.

Naruto followed Neji's eyes to Hinata, and blinked through watery vision at the sight of Shino seated curled in on himself. Hinata was draped over his back, hugging him from behind, both of them rocking just slightly. Kiba stood over them, mouth drawn in an grim glower. He cradled a tinnily crying Akamaru, head bowed just enough to hide his eyes. Naruto saw light glinting from wetness on his cheeks, though, and, as he watched, Kiba crouched, pressing his forehead down on Shino's shoulder.

Naruto gave up, then, pressing his face into Sakura's hair, riding out Uzuth's grief with harsh breaths and shaking shoulders.

It all stretched, for a time seeming endless. All of Naruto's awareness was choking, face-twisting grief and the distant sensation of his grip on Sakura. She was his tether to something outside Uzuth's anguish, and he let the feel of her in his arms begin to pull him out when it finally began to ease.

He regained control over himself at last, and he could look up, raising one hand and not bothering to pretend he wasn't wiping his eyes. The sharp, stabbing initial pain had faded—it was impossible to sustain that for long anyway, but he still felt empty, scoured out on the inside.

It took Sakura gently pushing at his chest before Naruto let go. "Uh," he said, dumbly apologetic, and she shook her head, rubbing her sleeve across her eyes.

"It's alright," she said, and slipped from his arms to head for the barracks, as others were doing. Shino had gotten to his feet, Lee had let go of Neji and Tenten, though his shoulders still shook, Shikamaru was standing on his own again.

The pall over everyone was still obvious, but, Naruto thought as he watched Ino hurry to catch up to Sakura and grab her hand, better to have the first time over with. One milestone done. The next time would be easier.

Wingbeats, and the older dragons who had been on the rim were landing around them, quiet keenings of grief still coming from them all. Lee flung himself against Roth, and Narath was pressing his muzzle to Shikamaru's strained face.

The rest would have to walk to find their partners, but it wasn't far. Swallowing with some difficulty, Naruto took a step towards the barracks, feeling unsteady and sick.

A footfall next to him and he glanced over to see Neji, who met his gaze with a shuttered expression. Naruto stared back, feeling his hands open wide. He closed them into fists. If he reached for Neji, he wouldn't let go anytime soon, and Neji wouldn't want that. He had Uzuth not far away, he could manage.

Neji was breathing fast, and he looked away again quickly, but he reached out, flattening a hand in the middle of Naruto's back. The warm palm was something to focus on besides the grief, and he let Neji propel him forward.

_

* * *

_

_Wake up. Wake up!_ Byakuth's worried and insistent voice pulled Neji out of sleep with a jerk, and he sat up, pushing his hair back over his shoulders. The daze of grief from before was mostly faded—he felt much steadier now than when he'd gone to bed.

The evening had been spent in a sort of numb fog, even after the eventual return of the fighting wings. Many of the riders got roaring drunk, as per tradition. Weyrlings were not permitted to drink alcohol, and so most everyone simply went to sleep early, or at least to bed, many taking blankets from their bed to lie next to their dragons, Naruto among them.

Looking around in the dark, there was more movement than there should have been at this hour. Dragons rumbling or softly creeling in grief or comfort, and Neji could hear muffled crying from a few places in the long room.

The curtain between his bed and the dragon couch in the space to his right was pulled fully forward, but the one on the left, between Byakuth's couch and Naruto's bed, was only half-drawn, and Byakuth's couch was in fact empty. Squinting and rising from his bed, he came around the unoccupied couch to see the blue standing up, forelegs on Uzuth's couch. His small nose was touched to the bronze's much larger one in concerned comfort that Neji could feel pouring off him in waves.

Uzuth was on his belly, Naruto lay against his side, like a kitten against a mother cat, but the dragon was awake, head up and eyes orange with distress, and Naruto was muttering and twisting in a nightmare.

Scrambling all the way onto the stone couch as Neji approached, Byakuth settled himself against Uzuth, tucking his head under the bronze's chin and the bronze curled his neck over him, like a child with a stuffed toy. Neji could feel the sympathetic affection Byakuth was projecting, and also the young blue's relief that Neji would now, surely, fix everything.

_He says his mind is all dark and screaming,_ Byakuth said, deeply worried, and Neji felt the same.

Orange eyes turned to Neji. _He's lost inside,_ Uzuth's mindvoice whispered fearfully into Neji's head, _he doesn't hear me to come out._ And Neji got a distant echo of the dream, of tearing angry loss, emptiness, of a pale young man with dark hair and dark, angry eyes.

Uzuth's distress made the unexpectedness of the direct address pass mostly beneath Neji's notice. He was more worried about the rider.

Naruto must have had his head and shoulders leaning on Uzuth's hindquarters, the flank and thighs certainly more comfortable than the bony shoulders and wingshoulders of a dragon's fore end. He'd slid off, though, and he lay sprawled on the stone, one arm tight around Uzuth's tail, fingers digging in, and now their positions were awkward for Uzuth to turn and reach Naruto without knocking or yanking him onto the floor because of the deathgrip on his tail.

Neji moved closer, gently running one hand down Uzuth's neck in reassurance . He leaned down and shook him without hesitation, and Naruto jerked, a full-body shock, and woke up. The blanket, barely half covering him already, slid to the floor in a heap.

He rose slowly, breathing hard, and let reluctantly go of Uzuth's tail. Bruise marks showed up dark on the hide when he lifted his fingers away. He turned and grabbed Uzuth's head, pressing his forehead to the bronze's, thumbs stroking gently. His mouth moved silently, and Neji could guess his words, comfort and apology. Byakuth shifted to rest his head on Naruto's lap.

Naruto sighed, and slid a heavy hand under Byakuth's chin to rub him gently in grateful acknowledgement before standing, wobbling slightly. Neji reached out to steady him, feeling the tremble in his arms, and Naruto looked at him at last, eyes wide.

"Do you need to go outside?" Neji asked quietly, and Naruto sighed.

"Not... It's not that… but I just, I wanna walk," he answered, and pulled away, moving to step into his sandals. "To the dining hall, get some water," he scrubbed at his face with both hands, and shook himself.

He looked back. Uzuth's eyes were mostly blue again, only just tinged with orange now, and Naruto reached out to brush his muzzle with his fingertips, then he turned and staggered ahead of Neji down the aisle.

People were awake, Neji saw glances turning their way as they passed, but he wasn't worried. No one was going to report anything tonight. Too many people were sitting together, in pairs or groups, when no one was even supposed to be awake.

Naruto was quiet most of the way to the dining hall, and Neji would have been more worried if Byakuth's gradual calming hadn't reassured him.

_Uzuth is much better now,_ Byakuth informed him, sounding serious and tired, _We will sleep, I think_. Neji replied with a wordless mental embrace, and felt the blue's waking awareness gradually tip into sleep.

"Guess having a regular nightmare is a good thing," Naruto looked over at him as they reached the hall's side entrance, smiling without much real humour.

Neji didn't know what to say to that, but Naruto didn't seem to expect a reply, just shrugging, and jerking his head in the direction of the kitchen.

Getting a mug of water along with Naruto, Neji wasn't really thirsty, it was mostly to have something for his hands to hold. He took a sip anyway as they sat down at the end of one of the candidate tables. The dining hall wasn't empty. Other people, alone or in small groups, dotted the other tables here and there, some louder ones obviously drunk. Many hangovers were in evidence on the mornings after a death.

"Did Uzuth wake you up?" Naruto grimaced down into his mug.

"Byakuth," Neji replied with a slight shrug, since it was nearly the same thing. "Uzuth was concerned because he didn't want to knock you onto the floor."

Naruto laughed slightly, his fingers tapping distractedly against the mug. His gaze was unhappy and distant, rising up past Neji's shoulder. It wasn't the inward-looking expression of a rider speaking to their dragon, and it wasn't the fear reaction from Naruto's old nightmares, where the distress had been immediate and urgent. It looked like old grief.

Neji wondered suddenly if he should have let Naruto go alone. He'd come along because he was concerned, because he remembered Naruto's old longing for company after the old nightmares, but that wasn't the situation now.

He looked down at the table, the grain of the wood dimly visible in the low-lit hall, its surface worn shiny-smooth by the years of constant use. This table was the one Neji had first sat at when he'd arrived. He'd been right over there, on the other end, when Iruka had introduced him to everyone, when Naruto had stood up and shouted happily at his arrival, when he'd been terrified that at any moment he would be discovered as unfit and sent away.

No longer. He was comfortable and happy here, it had become home, even before Byakuth, though his memory of that time felt a little strange from this vantage point—already he couldn't really imagine how it had been without the dragon's presence in his mind.

Much like Naruto. He could no longer so clearly remember what it was like before the Weyr, to be without Naruto's vivacious enthusiasm, or Lee's unflagging will or Tenten's patient calm. Or Hinata's soft, constant affection. Just as well—he did know that before, in those days, he would never have been able to imagine his life as it was now.

He did clearly remember meeting Naruto, though. He suspected he'd always remember that morning, the point when everything he knew had been given such a shove that it had eventually toppled. He'd learned and gained so much since then, all because of the ongoing pushy concern of one person.

But was it too much? Naruto had already given a great deal of his time, of his energy, and even his health and progress. He hadn't even seemed to mind any of it, not even being set back to their class because of his intervention at Byakuth's hatching, but the ridiculous size difference between Uzuth and the rest made it terribly obvious where he was supposed to be, where he'd be now learning to fly, instead of healing up the last of a stab to his stomach, his dragon even worse, a scarred, weakened wing.

"Hey. You know... you know that thing that happened? A long time ago, at Uchiha Hold?" Naruto asked suddenly.

"Uchiha..." Neji frowned slightly at the apparently random question, and repeated a few details of his history lessons at Hyuuga. "It's a currently vacant holding in the eastern part of Konoha Weyr's territory… the heir to the Hold massacred the inhabitants ten years or so ago."

"Uh," Naruto stared at him, eyes wide at his textbook recitation. "Right. It was messed up, huh." Naruto's eyes were shadowed and they drifted off to frown at nothing in particular on the surface of the table. He reached out to rub at an invisible spot. "But there was one left. He killed them all except one, and that one came here. For a while."

Neji had no idea where Naruto was going with this. He nodded slightly in acknowledgment.

"He was sorta like me, you know, everyone acted weird to him. But he... well, he's gone now. He used to share my room," Naruto looked at Neji and quickly looked away. "He was, he was my friend," Naruto said, his voice oddly firm, almost defiant, but also a little proud.

"I'm sorry for your loss," Neji said, and he was honestly sorry, though he was equally bewildered at the uncomfortable tightening of jealousy in his stomach. He forced it away, feeling disgusted with himself for reacting in such a way.

"He's not dead. He's just gone," Naruto said, voice tight, and now the firmness faltered until it sounded like Naruto was speaking to reassure himself.

"What happened?" Neji asked, feeling his mouth tighten around the words.

"He left, he went to... avenge everyone," Naruto's voice was almost too low to hear, "said he couldn't get strong, here." Naruto's hand tightened around the handle of his mug, "So he left. He has to come home, though," Naruto added, steely conviction in hardening his voice, as strong as Neji had ever heard. "I'm gonna find him, show him what I can do, that we're strong, here, and bring him home. I'm gonna be weyrleader someday. He'll see. He'll see it's worth it here, he'll be happy."

Neji was torn between sympathy over Naruto's loss and painfully selfish jealousy and hurt at this absent person who commanded so much emotion from Naruto.

Worse yet, he felt a sudden acute self-consciousness and shifting of the foundation of their relationship, like everything he'd thought so far was being remapped to shunt him off into the position of—it suddenly seemed so obvious—a replacement.

It was frighteningly logical. He'd taken someone's place, after all, both literally and figuratively, and it struck him that all of the energy Naruto had expended on him had been done only out of the inability to do so for the one who'd left. All the… affection, the protectiveness… the attraction… Naruto had lost someone. Neji could be a mere proxy.

But… surely… not?

When he'd first arrived at the Weyr he would've accepted that idea instantly. But he had grown since then, and now he knew Naruto. Knew that he had a heart as big as his mouth, with plenty of affection for everyone he met, everyone he'd ever meet. It was unfair of Neji to think that Naruto was seeing another when he looked at him. And so Neji struggled to wrestle down his pessimism. It was difficult, but he was well aware that the atmosphere of this night was dragging all emotional reactions into darker places.

Naruto's present state was the most obvious symptom of that.

"He's out there, right?" Naruto looked over at Neji suddenly, shockingly uncertain and plaintive. "He's still out there, right?" And Neji understood what nightmare Naruto had been having, knew who that dark young man was.

"He sounds like the type to keep going until he reaches his goal," Neji managed after a few helpless seconds of trying to find something to say.

"Yeah," Naruto smiled at him suddenly, like a flame lit in a lamp, brightening a dark room. "Yeah!" he said again. He drew himself up straight. "I promised Sakura, you know, that I'd bring him home," he told Neji in a secretive tone, "She, well... she misses him too."

"Oh?" was all Neji could think of to say, now almost certain that, yes, he really had just been an idiot, because it seemed rather like Naruto meant...

"It was just like lots of the other girls at first, I think, they kinda went crazy for him, but after a while she really... yeah," Naruto's face went serious again for a moment. "And I... He was amazing, he was like... I never had a brother, but..." he looked at Neji and shrugged with a small embarrassed grin, "I think it was like that."

And Neji felt weak inside with relief, felt so very foolish, felt like he'd been on a plunging cart ride off a sudden cliff for those brief moments, and had come to an abrupt halt when it was nothing but a bump, all without Naruto knowing it. Just as well.

He found there was still some jealousy there, just a little, towards this person who had known Naruto before Neji ever had. There was mingled dislike and respect also. The departure had hurt Naruto deeply, that was clear, but for someone to be so driven, so determined... This person and Naruto seemed to have that in common.

"You'll find him," Neji said, believing it, and Naruto's small smile spread.

Neji knew many things, he'd been taught more plain facts from the Hyuuga tutors than Naruto had ever learned, could study better, and his bodyguard training made him faster and more adept physically.

But Naruto's sheer stubborn determination and pure persistent belief in saving others outstripped all of that, in Neji's mind. The entire way he saw the world made Neji feel humble.

Naruto downed the last of his water in one pull, and they went to return their mugs to the kitchen. As he set his upside down in the rack over the large sink, he felt Naruto's hand settle on his shoulder. He turned to face him and was met with the uncharacteristically serious gaze once again.

"Thanks," was all Naruto said. His fingers squeezed and Neji felt the slightest pull, one he could shrug off if he wanted, but he followed it forward. Naruto slid his arms around Neji's neck and hugged him tight. Neji held on just as tight, working off the last of his brief plunge into uncertainty.

Naruto's hand slid under his hair, fingers curling against the back of his neck, brushing gently and making Neji tingle all the way down. Those fingers tightened into a fist as if to hold back anything more. Neji brought his own hand up, finding the collar of Naruto's shirt, and then the skin above it, smooth and warm. Higher still and he felt soft, wispy hairs that he knew were just below the thick, mussed blond hair that was pressed against his cheek.

A warm exhalation against his shoulder, and Naruto's thumb stroked down his neck.

Neji swallowed as the warmth in him increased to a daunting level, and Naruto let go, expression rueful and slightly frustrated and happy all at the same time. Neji smoothed the front of his shirt, not a little frustrated with himself, and gave Naruto a slight apologetic shrug. Naruto shrugged back, smiling, and gave Neji a conspiratorial wink.

Even that, which was essentially nothing, was stepping beyond the strict edge of weyrling conduct, because they both knew the intent under it, but Neji was glad and, yes, reassured of his insecurity, that Naruto had still wanted that contact from him.

Whatever hesitation his nerves kept throwing in his way, he certainly still wanted it from Naruto.


	17. Chapter 16 Testing the Wings

**Author's Note: **Sorry if anyone got spammed by alerts for this, I had some trouble uploading the correct copy. :facepalm:

* * *

Waiting in line, mounted on Byakuth, Neji kept having to resist the urge to fidget

Waiting in line, mounted on Byakuth, Neji kept having to resist the urge to fidget. Even the most reserved and taciturn of weyrlings were excited today, and with good reason.

After nearly four months of pattern-marching and flight theory… after another two months of also watching their young dragons start testing their wings, and go from hops and short glides to properly self-supported solo flight… Byakuth and his clutchmates were big enough and strong enough to carry riders.

To ease his nerves, Neji ran his flattened palm up and down Byakuth's smooth neck.

_It will be great!!_ the young blue was as full of bright anticipation as Neji was. More able to express it, Byakuth shifted on his feet, parted his jaws in a draconic grin and bugled.

Today's lack of discipline in the group at large was terribly apparent as most of the other young dragons responded in kind, many extending their wings to flap along with the noise, but for this day the mood was fully indulged. Older dragons were watching from the rim and from their weyr ledges, and some of them called back in encouragement. Master Gai's bronze Maith was never one to discourage enthusiasm, and his jaw was dropped in a wide laughing grin.

One deep bugle vibrated the air as the sore thumb of the group threw back his head and joined the din. Uzuth was more than twice the size of most of his classmates, only gold Haruth and younger bronze Inuzuth not frankly dwarfed by Uzuth's five extra months of growth—he was only about a third again as large as they. But, with them right behind Neji and Byakuth in line, Neji had to lean back to see Naruto perched on Uzuth's neck, just forward from his wingshoulders.

Uzuth barely fit on his couch anymore, taking every inch of it, tightly curled, when it was supposed to allow a weyrling dragon a foot or two extra in any given direction, and Neji had overheard Master Kakashi commenting to Master Iruka that Naruto might be granted his private weyr in a mere few days, over a month before the rest of them.

Uzuth displayed none of the uncertainty of his groupmates as he sat waiting for his turn around the bowl. He had been flying far longer than they, even with the forced grounding of his injury.

Yamath landed, backwinging awkwardly in the familiar manoeuvre all the dragons would have to relearn to do with the extra weight of their rider. Neji grimaced as Ino didn't manage to move with the landing and smacked her face against the ridge on the back of Yamath's head. She was wiping tears from her eyes as Yamath walked them back into line, but as much from joy as from the impact, and she hugged Yamath around the neck and kissed her, laughing while she dried her cheeks.

"Your turn, forehead girl!" she whooped, and indeed, Sakura was up next, all smiles despite the peculiar and apparently fond insult. Golden Haruth moved confidently forward to the takeoff area.

The gold spread her wings once, flapped as if for practice. Then she gathered herself close, hindquarters bunching and she leaped into the air, wings snapping out and then pushing down in that first vital downsweep, and they all watched the Weyr's youngest queen take her first mounted turn around the bowl.

Neji glanced to Naruto. He and Uzuth were both rapt, the bronze's gaze fixed on the form of the gold that one day, Neji had a speculative certainty, he would fly to mate.

Jealousy at the idea itched in Neji's mind, but it was barely relevant, about the same as when Naruto was poached from Neji's company by one of the other weyrlings for a game Neji didn't care to play.

It was hard to live in the Weyr, as a candidate, and then a weyrling, and not become quite used to the general culture around mating flights and the necessity therein of sharing sexual partners.

Those raised here had no issue with it to begin with, and those from elsewhere who Impressed dragons seemed to learn it surprisingly easily. Sex was neither mysterious nor dirty at the Weyr, just natural. That didn't prevent emotional upheavals of the more mundane kind—emotional fidelity was still important enough in the various relationship configurations that drama occurred with regularity, and the gossip mill rejoiced.

Neji had been amazed, during a recent class on sexual health and mating flights, to compare his current self with his old self. That old Neji would have been injuriously mortified about any of the subjects covered that day. Case in point: the healer lecturing them had explained that all that male greenriders were strongly encouraged to prepare themselves—by which the healer made explicitly clear that he meant stretching and lubrication of the anus—in the interval before all the chasing dragonriders arrived and the green actually launched into her flight. Sitting and listening to that eighteen months or so ago would have sent him into shock. As it was he had still sort of receded into his chair a little.

Though, while it definitely _had_ made Neji feel awkward, he could certainly see that it was also just practical.

He wasn't on par with Lee or Kiba when it came to actually talking about any of it, and doubted he'd ever be quite that matter-of-fact, but he'd gotten comfortable past the point of merely being able to stand it, and could follow a conversation without minding, if perhaps not participating as much as some others.

It was a relief to have realized it. He never wanted to repeat the overreaction he'd had towards Naruto when they were candidates.

Master Iruka had said, at some point during those old candidate classes, that it was thought that dragons only ever Searched and ultimately Impressed people that would be suited to Weyr life. Neji had felt confused and extremely sceptical at the time. Now, he was simply glad to be comfortable here, whether Iruka's theory was true or it was the Impression itself that eased minds into being open and understanding. It was harder to feel jealousy for people when you began with the security of a partner that you knew would never leave you.

After all, dragons didn't work quite like humans—their lust for each other was definitely situational, and a male dragon would chase a female who rose when he was ready, regardless of his rider's relationship with her rider. Dragons' relationships totally disregarded mating flights as a basis, and should a blue's weyrmated green be caught by another, it didn't much matter at all. Their lust truly did go on and off as easily as snuffing a flame. So their riders inherited plenty of that mindset.

Chiming in on Neji's thoughts, Byakuth said _Uzuth will catch golds! He will catch Haruth and they will lead together one day. I know it,_ Neji chuckled quietly at the blue's unflagging high opinion of the young bronze, _And you know I love him rider very much! We sleep together on the rim in the sun a lot, and he likes to swim with me_. Neji smiled, the warmth of Byakuth's freely discussed affection sweet in his mind.

Haruth landed to bugling and whooping applause, touching down almost perfectly, Sakura's face nearly as pink as her hair with pride and happiness as Haruth neatly folded her wings and strutted—there was no other word for her proud walk—back to the end of the line. Naruto put two fingers in his mouth and whistled sharply as the pair passed him, and laughed when Sakura shot him an entirely forced glower, her giddy smile reappearing almost right away.

Aburath and Shino were next, with a wobbly takeoff and smooth landing. And so it went. Inuzuth and Kiba took off nearly perfectly and then, apparently overconfident, did the nearest impression of a crash landing any pair could have managed without injuring someone. Kiba ended up hanging from his straps and clinging to Inuzuth's neck, red-faced and swearing but still happy. Hinata's flight was uncertain-looking but she and Juuketh moved well together, and the takeoff and landing were both neat and smooth, little green Juuketh almost glowing with pride afterwards.

Then it was Neji's turn. He resisted the urge to look around at Naruto and the others as Byakuth walked forward to the takeoff area, setting his stance for Maith to inspect and correct, if need be.

Byakuth did shift slightly, wings rustling in anticipation, and Neji settled himself just as he'd been instructed, checking his straps the way protocol required as Master Gai walked around them.

"Show us the energy of youth!" he said, offering a thumbs-up as he stepped back to give them room, "your fiery will is the basis for all the practice that will refine this momentous flight!"

Neji nodded and didn't even roll his eyes a little, feeling bemused affection for his weyrlingmaster, as always, though this time he felt the words sinking in a little deeper. It really was a momentous flight.

_Let's gooooo!!_ Byakuth chivvied, his entire body tense. Neji took a breath, then patted his neck a last time.

_Yes. Let's go!_

He tried to relax as Byakuth leaped. Even seeing so many others go before him, he could barely keep hold of the reminders from lectures. None of it prepared for the real thing. He felt Byakuth's body tighten, bunch and shove off, felt his hind feet leave the ground, felt the jerk of them launching upward, and managed—just—to let himself move loosely with the motion, become part of it. For an instant he felt it, the smooth synergy, then Byakuth's wings swooped down and he was unbalanced, the rush of air and the next lurch making him jerk against the straps.

He levelled off when he was high enough, flapping a couple of times and settling into the easy glide around the bowl that the others before had done.

Vague memories of the flight on Hataketh's back, so very long ago now, came to mind, and he recalled the fright of leaving the earth and the pain he'd been in that day and for many days after.

Byakuth, however, was in his element, and there was no fear this time, no uncertainty, even as Neji worked for the right balance and muscle tension to match his dragon's flight, he was full of nothing but joy.

Half was Byakuth's, the sheer happiness of carrying his chosen rider at last, of being able to take the one he loved beyond life itself with him into the sky.

And half was Neji's, a level of fulfillment that surprised him with its intensity, its utter contrast against the memory of everything before. A life walled in, spent moving in a long line down a dark hall… the walls were rubble now, the sky and the world everywhere for him to see. Danger, yes, but freedom. Freedom.

Wind pulled at his hair, whipping it back and forth, but he didn't care, looking all around at the bowl, its familiar walls and contours suddenly brand new from this vantage point, the air itself smelling different, the colours of stone in the bowl somehow become newly vivid, rich grey and brown, the sparkling surface of the lake, the white sand and green grass around it.

Their flight was even and smooth, and by the end, Neji felt that he'd found that balance. Only a few minutes of flight and he knew if he sat with his knees bent just so, his back upright but not rigid, he was the most comfortable. It took concentration to hold, but that would fade with practice.

_We have to go down_ Byakuth sighed mentally, and dipped into a slow descent. They landed with a bump, Byakuth stumbling under the still-new weight of his rider. He too was only just learning how to fly with another.

Neji managed to put his hands up to stop himself smashing into the back of his dragon's head, and swept aside the blue's sheepish apology with the irresistible tide of his elated satisfaction.

They got back into line, but Byakuth offset himself somewhat so they had an unobstructed view of Naruto and Uzuth.

The bronze pair, overlarge among the rest, took off to the sound of Naruto's elated whoops, Uzuth launching with perfect stability and no sign of weakness from his scarred wing. As he spread them for the first downsweep, Neji could see the uneven line in the translucent wingsail, darker and thicker than the veins that ran through it, but it hindered them not at all, the membrane stretching easily and evenly. Scarred, but healed with the resilience of youth, as Master Gai would say.

Uzuth had begun flying properly again a month or so before Byakuth and the rest had even been started to test their wings off the ground, and he'd already had some previous experience to build on, along with his greater size and strength. Naruto's weight was nothing on him, his stability was perfect, and Neji could only imagine the degree of Naruto's joy at this moment.

Byakuth sent a gleeful little breeze of emotion into him at that, and a mental wink, and then a thread of pure elation curled into his mind, one not from the blue at all. The flavour was entirely separate, and unique to a mindvoice that Neji had heard only a very few times before.

A wordless question—Uzuth was sharing with them, and did Neji want it? An equally wordless acquiescence from Neji, and Byakuth offered him the full taste, filling him with the rapt, thrumming joy of Uzuth and, in him, Naruto. It recalled his own and Byakuth's to perfection while feeling totally distinct, but it also surpassed it to a degree that reminded Neji just how hard Naruto fought and felt and lived. The intensity was stronger from the long months of waiting, the accomplishment even sweeter because this had been Naruto's dream all his life.

The whole of it was so strong as to reach the beginnings of arousal and Neji felt his heart beating faster and his body warming with it.

And to think, this first practice had absolutely nothing on mating flights. Neji felt a bit dazed from the rush as he and the rest of the group watched Uzuth and Naruto come in for a landing, Uzuth backwinging smoothly and landing without so much as a bump. Naruto lurched visibly against his straps—no matter how much practice Uzuth had gotten already, it was still Naruto's very first time—and howled a cheer that Uzuth bugled to match.

Neji let out a long breath, feeling the weight of guilt he'd tried to ignore at Naruto's wish these past months lift away once and for all. Naruto was, at long last, back to the place where he'd been so brutally stopped at Byakuth's hatching. He was finally moving forward again.

It was three times around the bowl for each of them, and most of them got unsteadier in flight and worse at landing with each one as their dragons became fatigued and their own muscles tired with the new manner of use. But Maith and Gai were unflagging in their encouragement and praise, and all the weyrlings, dragon and rider alike, would have continued on into the evening if they had been allowed.

Every day forward would be spent working on the flight stamina of dragon and rider. It wouldn't be long before they were free to ride their dragons whenever they wanted.

* * *

Naruto spun and flung his arms out like a child, laughing at the sky, at the dragons above, at Uzuth, who had retired to the rim along with Byakuth and most of their classmates to sleep off the exertions of flight. Uzuth, Neji was sure, had to be the least tired of all of them, but even he had looked a little frayed. The degree of excitement in today's training had taken a great deal of energy all on its own.

The dragonets had really become dragons at some point, he realized suddenly. Though they often still referred to them that way, Byakuth and his clutchmates had shaken off the cute baby stage, beginning instead the rangy adolescent stage of maturation, and Uzuth, five months their elder, was near the end of that. He certainly had some length to gain yet, but in another few months he'd be a year old and start putting on the girth of an young adult.

But Uzuth's head start aside, they were all flying now.

After weeks of focusing their learning on air currents and weather patterns and the care and maintenance of the riding harnesses, they had mounted up and flown, together.

Lee had set down on Roth after they'd finished, and he'd been no less ecstatic despite it all being old hat to him by now, bubbling over with praise and adoration for everyone. swooping over to hug Neji and then Tenten and anyone else who would let him.

Kiba had grabbed Hinata and spun with her, pulling giddy squeaks from her as the atmosphere overwhelmed her usual quiet demeanour, and she'd collapsed, giggling, against Shino. Chouji had done the same to Ino, swinging her around with a laugh, and her protesting screech had trailed off into a sunny smile when he'd set her down again. Narath had touched down nearby, the energetic bronze greeting their dragons elatedly while Shikamaru dismounted with less fanfare but the same congratulations.

And now it was time to wash up for evening meal, and to let their dragons rest for the day.

Neji watched Naruto's antics, the pleasure pouring off him in a blatant display to anyone who could see him, running and leaping across and around Neji's more sedate progress towards the barracks.

And as much as Neji would have preferred it otherwise, they all needed to rest, young wing muscles, and young rider muscles as well. He could feel the twinges in his back and thighs as he walked, various muscle groups complaining at their new manner of use, and would likely ache tomorrow. He doubted anyone would mind.

"I _want_ to do it _again!_" Naruto chanted, making one final flailing jump before tripping back to fall in beside Neji, still glowing with excitement.

Neji huffed a laugh under his breath, hardly daring to glance sideways, feeling like Naruto's radiant joy might be too bright for him to look at directly. Byakuth's sharing with him of Uzuth's joy still warmed him inside, and he was alert to every move Naruto made, as though every hair on his body was on end to sense his motion in the space around Neji.

The others had passed them long minutes ago, in a hurry to get the best bathing rooms before dinner. Naruto was too wound up, and had lagged behind, lavishing extra praise on Uzuth, and Neji had waited for him even though Byakuth had already dragged himself to the rim to sleep, enjoying the chance to bask in the exuberance.

They reached the door in the wall and Naruto dragged it open, bowing extravagantly to Neji as he held it for him. Neji passed him with a studied nod of pretend arrogance, and Naruto laughed at him as he followed him in.

A strong arm was thrown around his neck and Neji let himself be pulled close. "We _flew_. We flew!" Naruto crowed, hot and heavy against Neji, grinning up at him, eyes bright and shining even in the dimmer light of the door's alcove. Their faces were close enough for Neji to feel the warmth pouring off Naruto's joy-flushed face and he smiled broadly in return, a little hesitant to show so much openly, but unable to stop it, the expression drawn out through his layers of reserve by the sheer intensity of Naruto's glee and his own.

His next indrawn breath took in the mingled scent of salty sweat and spicy dragon-musk hanging in the air around them both.

Naruto went still suddenly, grin tinged with something hungry, and his free hand landed warmly on Neji's chest. He yanked Neji closer in by a handful of tunic, barely giving him time to be surprised before their mouths met.

It was instinct, and excitement transmuted to arousal all in an instant, a flash fire from the warmth of before and the spark of this moment. Neji opened his mouth as Naruto's warm lips covered his, wet heat building, so when Naruto's tongue slid in and over his own, it felt only natural, the perfect final consequence of the day's events..

Naruto released the arm around his neck and drove him back to the wall with two hands flat on his chest, the impact clicking their teeth together. Naruto pulled back just far enough to inhale deeply, drawing cool air through the warmth until Neji tugged Naruto close again. His hands gripped at Naruto's sides, the solid presence responding to Neji's touch, pressing heavily against him while Neji leaned down to close the spaces, seeking the heat and Naruto's mouth again.

The stone wall was cool at his back, Naruto warm in front of him, hands moving up over his neck, big hands, wide warm palms, strong from all their training. Fingers slid into the hair at the back of his head as Naruto's lips and tongue moved against his, enthusiastic, a little goading, and the next time Naruto panted, there was a smile in it.

With his eyes closed, it was just what he could feel, a pocket of heat that soon excluded even the stone behind him as his own body warmed further to the interaction.

Then Naruto angled his hips, rubbing firmly against Neji's groin so Neji could feel the unmistakeable press of an erection against his own as Naruto's knee bumped between Neji's legs. A slithery feeling of reluctance wobbled through Neji's arousal, and he couldn't continue.

Shoved out of the warm fog as he lost the single-minded focus of his lust, he dragged his mouth from Naruto's, breathing hard, and planted one hand against his chest, holding Naruto away when he leaned up to follow, hating himself but unable to do otherwise.

A blink and a gasp and Naruto shoved himself roughly backwards, removing himself violently from Neji's space, still flushed, eyes wide, but now shocked and apprehensive and pale with apology.

They stared at each other. The heat slowly dissipated from Neji's body where Naruto had been pressed against him, and the contrasting coolness felt like a loss.

"I—" Naruto choked, dread licking around the edges of his expression.

Neji touched his mouth with the backs of his fingers. His lips tingled from the pressure and they felt softer, more sensitive than normal. He licked them once, tasting the flavour of another person on them.

The squirming wariness had abated already, leaving self-disgust at his own cowardice in its wake.

He swallowed and looked at Naruto, who was frozen, waiting.

Neji offered him a mild smile that he didn't entirely feel, but he had to make sure Naruto saw that he wasn't going to panic, that he didn't need to look so awfully guilty. For all the regulations and his own jangling nerves, what had just happened between them was entirely mutual.

Naruto caught his feeble attempt to reassure, and exhaled, the dread fading, but the apology staying just as strong. "I shouldn't have done that," he breathed. "I wanted it to be—it should've been when—Sorry," he cut himself off. "I shouldn't have done that. 'S against the rules anyway."

"Yes," Neji agreed quietly. Naruto made a pained sound and looked at the floor with a wince. Neji took a steadying breath. His heart was going like a drum in his chest, nerves and the heat in his face and the frustration and self-consciousness all a muddy mess of emotion.

Byakuth remained sound asleep, unbothered by his rider's confused arousal. Neji doubted that the arousal per se would've bothered the young blue, despite the admonitions against liason between weyrlings. Byakuth was mature enough now that he'd become aware of Neji's feelings, and approved, unsurprisingly, that his rider was so fond of the great Uzuth's rider. But Neji's accursed nervous reactions might well have caused distress.

Neji was also very relieved that no weyrlingmaster had come upon them. If they'd been caught, there would have been lectures and discipline.

And he didn't want to have to regret this, at all.

Right now, his only regret was how they'd stopped—that he'd stopped Naruto out of _nerves_, and not actually because of the risks of rule-breaking.

How ridiculously annoying.

It would have been so much sweeter, after this day, to have stopped with laughing and smiles and reluctant releasing of hands and mouths. If Naruto hadn't… moved that way… they might've continued. Of course, Neji thought with a rush of discomfiting heat, if they'd continued, it would've lead to… moving that way.

Neji took a long breath and let it out, resisting the urge to smack his head backward against the wall.

He reached out and brushed Naruto's arm. "It's fine," he said. He settled his hand on the solidity of Naruto's shoulder, feeling the warmth through the cloth of his shirt and tunic.

Naruto's mouth worked uncertainly, and his eyes pleaded. "I'm sorry," he said, deadly sincere, "I'm really sorry."

Neji licked his lips again, and he saw Naruto's eyes flicking to watch the movement. "Don't be. I'm not," he replied, quiet but firm, and Naruto blinked a confused frown. It seemed to take a few moments for him to grasp what Neji meant, and Neji smiled a bit in encouragement. This time the expression was entirely real.

When Naruto's eyes widened at last in understanding, and his brows shot up. With remarkable restraint, Naruto turned to face down the hall and smiled a little smile, looking like he was biting the insides of his lips to keep it small. He cast a brief glance back at Neji, eyes smiling much more expressively than his mouth, though apology still lay in them, and jerked his head toward their original destination.

They set off again, Neji a little behind, smoothing the front of his shirt almost unconsciously. He was still frustrated with himself and antsy from the last embers of arousal. As they neared the corner that would take them out of this empty hall, he clenched his fists, set his jaw, then reached out, pulling Naruto around by one shoulder. He put his hands where they'd been just a minute before, spreading his fingers wide against Naruto's sides, pulling him in.

"Whoa—" Naruto managed, voice low but the huge grin fully audible in his exclamation, before Neji leaned down to kiss him.

He wasn't as forceful as Naruto had been just before, or even as he had been when he'd first responded. Too much of his restraint had locked back in place. But kiss him he did, and it was probably laughably hesitant compared to a minute earlier… but Naruto's response was reassuringly instant, mouth gentle but definitely eager, his arms coming up to rest on Neji's shoulders, one hand sliding under his hair again to smooth encouragingly down his nape.

When Neji pulled away, Naruto let go with a little sigh and some unexpectedly flattering reluctance, hands moving down Neji's arms and squeezing before finally dropping away. "We should really stop, this is against the rules," Neji deadpanned, feeling quietly triumphant behind the falsely solemn expression he put on.

Naruto's delight overflowed after a moment or two of stupid grinning, and he laughed. And laughed. And laughed some more, staggering most of the way back to the barracks hanging off Neji's shoulder in the throes of his mirth.


	18. Chapter 17 Seizing the Moment

_How's the big bed?_ Naruto asked on his way past the bronze out towards the ledge.

_Perfect._

Uzuth was rolled half onto his back in a position no self-respecting bronze ever ought to be in. But it was understandable. He'd outgrown his couch in the barracks long ago, and had spent the last few weeks nearly spilling off his bed every night until, for the past two days, he'd been fed up enough to sleep on the floor in the aisle. Naruto had accepted being held back to the younger weyrling group ages ago now, but that had just been ridiculous.

Finally, the weyrlingstaff had decided to have a little mercy, and though the rest of Naruto's class wouldn't see the inside of their own private quarters for another six weeks, Naruto had been allowed to pick a private weyr only a week after they'd started flight training. Uzuth's extra time flying and larger size had made him much more adept at carrying a rider than any of his younger groupmates, and the weyrlingstaff had judged that he would be sufficiently able to ferry Naruto back and forth whenever it was required.

Naruto thought Uzuth was well beyond "sufficiently able," and he'd been thrilled to pick his weyr, choosing one of the normally less-desired lower-tier ones on the north wall. While tradition, and little else, held that higher was better, Naruto had ignored the few mid-tier weyrs available elsewhere in favour of a weyrledge that would be in the sun for a good deal longer than all of the "better" weyrs on the eastern or western walls. The jagged slope of the rim's even had sun hitting the ledge of his and nearby weyrs farther into the evening than most lower-tier weyrs.

Of course, one could always sun on the rim, but Uzuth had seemed to like the idea that the sun would be right on his personal ledge for so much of the day.

Depositing his sack of dirty rags onto the ledge, Naruto looked out across the bowl. There was no sun to bask in now—it was near midnight. The bowl was lit by a only by a sliver of moon and the wash of starlight, the slopes and irregularities of the ground below smoothed out by the night. A gleaming spot of light came from the moon's reflection in the lake, far off to one side, and a very few softer yellow lights dotted the far wall in a few places, where other dragonriders were still awake, and down near the base of the walls, marking each doorway into the lower caverns.

It was beautiful, to be up here and able to see all of that. He was away from the close quarters of the barracks, from the reassuring presence of other people… but he had Uzuth now, and he was _so_ happy to have his own place, this set of rooms that was all for the two of them. There was a definite twinge of loss for all the closeness he'd needed for so long, but looking out across the Weyr, even in the dark… he felt proprietary, now. A keeper, instead of kept.

And... well. Naruto grinned. There was also the fact that having one's own weyr eventually allowed for a particular kind of closeness the barracks certainly didn't. Naruto took a deep, contented breath of the cool air against the heat that thought made him feel.

Even if he was already missing Neji sleeping in the next space over, he hoped that eventually having Neji sleeping right in his bed, or he in Neji's, would make up for that. Naruto grinned even wider at that thought, eyes narrowing as he looked down to where the entrance to the barracks was lit, the familiar slope of stone outside where all the young dragonets liked to start their lifelong habit of sunbathing was a pool of light, small from this vantage point.

Naruto stretched, leaning back, and felt his spine react with relief to a relaxation of the hunch he'd been in for most of the past six hours. He'd been cleaning out his new home since right after evening meal, and never in his life had he been so eager to wash, scrub and dust. It was a lot more satisfying when the space you were cleaning was your very own.

Disused weyrs were notoriously dusty, and this one had been no exception, with so much dust layered over things that he and Sakura had had to begin with cloths tied around their faces.

Naruto was glad she'd arrived to help _after_ he'd yanked the sheet covering the dresser off in a fit of enthusiasm—he'd spent what felt like five minutes straight sneezing, eyes tearing up, while he waited back out on the ledge for the dust cloud to settle and for Uzuth to stop laughing at him. The bronze had sagged half off his new couch in draconic hysterics, the rumbling laugh accompanied by ringing mental peals of amusement.

After he'd recovered, though, Uzuth had been most helpful in hauling barrels of water up and down for the rest of the cleaning effort.

Turning back into the glowbasket-lit inner cave rooms of his now thoroughly scrubbed weyr, Naruto grinned. His weyr had four rooms, if you counted Uzuth's vastly upgraded couch room. The ledge outside was wide enough for Uzuth to sprawl out on and still allow room for another dragon to land. Farther in, the opening pinched to become Uzuth's sleeping area, the raised ledge of his couch behind a half-wall that would keep the wind and rain from the bowl out, though there was no door per se. Dragons did love the sun, but weren't uncomfortable in the lowest temperatures that Konoha's territory dropped to.

At the back of Uzuth's space hung a new double curtain of thick layered hides, beyond which was the weyr's largest room, a general living area. Right now there was nothing in it but a long wall unit with empty drawers and a table with two chairs turned upside down on its surface, along with most of the glowbaskets. There were shelf units and other kinds of furniture down in the stores, but cleaning had taken priority over having Uzuth carry any of that up so soon.

A smaller room was carved out of the wall on the left. It had been empty and still was. Naruto figured it was for an office, or a small personal library. The bedroom was through the curtained doorway at the back of the living area, large enough for a double bed and dresser with plenty of space for smaller side table and a storage chest or two. Naruto had gotten a mattress and pillows up here already. Linens and blankets lay folded and ready to be made up. His personal laundry sack, the weyr number stamped in permanent dye on both sides of the large drawstring bag, hung over the footboard, and all his clothes—not that he had very many—were put away.

It was pretty bare, but it was clean and ready and it was _his_.

He'd told them he'd finish tonight. He could have left it half-done—tomorrow was restday, so he had all the time he wanted—but it would have rankled. He couldn't wait to show it off as soon as possible.

Sakura had stayed to help him clean for nearly the entire evening. Neji had only been able to stop in for a short look around when it was still dirty enough that they both left footprints in the dust—he was the first in their class to be on night-shift watchdragon training. He was actually still be up there now, Naruto realized, glancing back over his shoulder in the general direction of the watchdragon's perch.

At this hour, Naruto was up past his bedtime, technically. Their group still had lights-out as of an hour ago, and he was in that group, even if graduating to your own weyr meant the end of imposed sleeping hours. Not that showing up half-asleep for class was suddenly allowed—it just became each rider's own responsibility to govern their nighttime habits.

Sakura had stayed on gamely until she'd had to get back to the barracks, and Naruto loved her for that—reliving candidate-hood with a five-hour cleaning marathon wasn't the most desirable way to spend an evening. Uzuth, of course, had just been thoroughly enamoured that Haruth had decided to stay on his ledge, instead of the rim. He'd gleefully told Naruto how that proved their ledge was, in fact, perfect.

"We'd be done in half the time if Lee were here," Sakura had called out during the later part of the evening from her position standing on the dresser in the bedroom to wash the top of the walls.

"Yeah, but only so we could get all the furniture and interior decorating done right away too!" Naruto had answered, sweeping the mop over the floor in the main area. Lee and Shikamaru's class was also on watchdragon training, but it was the advanced, pre-graduation version; they were stationed for week-long tenures at various holds and halls in the territory.

"He's at the weaverhall, you know," she answered, "I think you should expect some blankets or something when he gets back!"

"I'm all for home-warming gifts. As long as he doesn't drop them into a vat of dye." Naruto laughed. Hopefully, with watchdragon duties, Lee wouldn't be in a position to have any dye-related accidents this time around.

Sakura laughed too. Naruto smiled at the sound. In his opinion, it wasn't heard nearly enough. Sakura was often serious now. Her rank as weyrling was equal to the rest of them… but Haruth was gold, and that fact trumped anything else. The dragons deferred by instinct and while Sakura never exerted influence, she was aware she had it, and it seemed to weigh on her. She'd be taking additional classes soon, with Tsunade herself, learning from the best on how to conduct herself as a goldrider, and about all the additional duties that came with the rank. Naruto was absolutely sure she would do great. Haruth could not have chosen better.

"I'll have to find something to make it a bit prettier in here," she said, sounding amused but also thoughtful. He heard her jump down from the dresser and turned to see her leaning in the doorway between the rooms and looking around.

"I don't do pretty," he said with a mock frown, and held the mop up like a weapon. "I'm totally masculine and rugged and tough."

She giggled and waved her rag at him before turning back into the bedroom. "Whatever you say, Naruto."

"Are you casting, uh," what was the word, "aspersions on my manliness?"

"No," her voice carried to him, low and fond. "Definitely not."

He grinned to himself and slapped the mop down on the floor in the next spot.

Despite the amount of work, the evening had pretty well flown by. But he couldn't have done it without her. By the time she'd left, almost every surface had been cleaned. He'd spent the last hour doing the last bits, and then dragging his few pieces of furniture around until he'd arranged it all to his liking.

Sakura's girly tastes aside, he did want the place to look nice. He needed... rugs, wall hangings, stuff to make this place really look like he belonged here.

_You've got me,_ Uzuth pointed out.

_Yeah, you're really ornamental,_ Naruto answered, laughing, _come in here and lie on my floor, we'll see how well that works out._

Uzuth replied with an audible snort. Naruto picked up the second sack of used cleaning cloths, the buckets and mop, and went out to the ledge. He needed to get the sacks to the laundry, the rest to the stores, and himself to the baths, because while his weyr was clean, he was coated in dust and grime.

He yawned, trailing off with a satisfied sigh. He'd have a good first night's sleep.

Uzuth rolled off his couch with only minor complaining about yet another back-and-forth run, and Naruto mounted up with his load.

Uzuth was about to jump off the ledge when he paused and cocked his head.

_Katsuyuth rises_, he said, and indeed, few moments later a deep, resonant bellow shook the midnight air.

"Whooo," Naruto exhaled as he felt the dragonlust settling into him. He let go of the sacks of cleaning rags and the buckets, not really caring about the clatter, loud in the dark. They'd keep until tomorrow.

The sounds of males replying to Katsuyuth's summons filled the air, and Naruto shifted, palming himself through his trousers. _Just to the baths, I think._

Uzuth launched, interested in the flight only as a spectator tonight. In another six months, that might be another story, but for now he was content to be watch his elders race and jockey for the highest honour at the Weyr. The one whose dragon flew Katsuyuth would be Weyrleader. Not that the outcome was really in question. Katsuyuth only allowed one bronze to fly her, and Naruto feel no need to agonize over it.

He just wanted into the baths.

* * *

Bugles filled the night air, and Neji felt Byakuth's amusement as he shifted where he was mounted, his erection increasingly urgent, the dubious privacy of his bed increasingly appealing with every passing moment.

Despite the cool breeze from flying in the dark, Neji's face still felt warm. The older woman who was the actual watchrider for this shift had laughed at him as soon as Katsuyuth's bugle had sounded, and snapped her fingers for him to mount up and leave. "Sounds like Jiraiya's about to renew his membership in the weyrleader's club. Get outta here, kid. You're about done for the night anyway. Go on. Get. Go take care of yourself."

He'd protested, feeling his face heat up, but she'd only rolled her eyes and jerked her head towards where Byakuth was perched next to her green. "Kiddo, you were exemplary tonight. This ain't a smear on your abilities, it's just a favour, alright?" She'd checked the timepiece tucked into her vest pocket. "Look, it's... half an hour till midnight. Lemme put it to you like this: I don't wanna sit here next to a kid sportin' a hard-on for the rest of my shift."

Neji was well used to the frank culture of the Weyr, he really was, but that was still a bit much from someone he barely knew, even now. So he'd thanked her and ducked a bow, feeling like his cheeks were burning.

Byakuth set down outside the barracks, and Neji dismounted. He got two steps into the corridor before he realized he didn't really want to walk into that room just now. Waking up to a goldflight, hidden under your blankets in the dark, that was one thing... you could pretend you were alone. Walking straight into a room where most people were already busy...

Neji grimaced. Perhaps the baths were a better option.

He gave Byakuth's neck a pat, and the blue went on ahead, unperturbed by the arousal permeating the air. Neji turned down the hall and headed for the bathing rooms.

The walk felt far longer than he knew it was, and Byakuth dropped off to sleep as he went. He let out a breath as he neared the last corner, then froze as he heard other footsteps, a heavy tread hurrying from the other end of the hall. Someone had come into the baths from outside.

The footsteps stopped, and he heard a long sigh of relief, deep and half-voiced and familiar. Naruto. It was Naruto.

Naruto was still awake. Perhaps that wasn't so surprising—he had been so very intent on finishing the work on his weyr tonight. Though the reason for him being awake was rather more distant from Neji's mind than the knowledge, after hearing that sigh, that Naruto must be in the same situation that Neji was.

Taking another silent step, Neji leaned out to look around the corner, and saw Naruto push his way through one of the bathing room doors.

It closed with a heavy sound that filled the hall for a brief moment.

The sound of the latch that Neji was waiting for... didn't happen.

For long moments he was frozen still, torn between uncertainty and arousal.

He... did not think it was unreasonable to imagine that Naruto would be amenable to being followed.

Neji blinked and realized he'd taken a few steps along the hall without realizing it.

His heart was racing, and he knew, he _knew_ that what he was considering was not something he would have done without the lust filling him just now.

He would have thought of it, but he wouldn't have done it.

Naruto was in the same state as he, at this moment, and the images flooding his mind all of a sudden were joined and intensified by the memory of two kisses: one spontaneous and heated, the other a mere flicker of defiance against the hesitation that had ended the first.

On that thought, Neji moved forward again, intent on that unlocked door.

* * *

Naruto shouldered the door closed and shifted over to lean against the stone wall, cool pressure at his back. He rubbed sweaty palms against his thighs, and hunched over as he unbuckled his belt. He pulled off his tunic and dropped it to the floor; his shirt quickly followed. He unbuttoned his trousers with clumsy fumbling that took much longer than it should have, and he shoved a hand into his shorts with a huff of grateful relief.

Then the door opened, and he startled, pulling his hand free and snapping his gaze up.

What he saw was the last thing he expected.

Neji stood there, face flushed, one hand tight on the door handle. His eyes were wide and bright and his lips were just parted. Naruto felt lust sweep up through him like a bonfire.

As Naruto stared, momentarily stunned, he saw Neji's own initial flare of arousal falter into sudden indecision. _Oh no, not that, not now._

Naruto reached out, careful not to touch Neji himself just yet, afraid to spook this wonderful apparition, and gripped the door instead, tugging it open. He grinned. "Hey," he said softly.

A slow blink was his only reply, but Neji didn't leave, instead letting the opening door pull his arm and then the rest of him into the room. Naruto let go and moved back half a pace. He licked his lips, then swallowed and tried to slow his breathing some. He didn't want to look like a slavering dog.

Stepping forward, Neji moved just enough to be able to close the door behind him.

By the First Egg. Naruto wanted to pin him to the door and...

But no, not like this. Neji still looked like he was on the edge of bolting. Even if he had come inside because he was brimful with goldflight lust and just as horny as Naruto, it was pretty clear he'd had a little too much time to hesitate, and was stuck somewhere in between staying and going. But he _was_ still here. Naruto wasn't about to pass this up.

"Came to clean up," Naruto said, almost conversational. But he could hear the roughness in his own voice. He slouched back against the wall and scrubbed his knuckles over one cheek where he knew a smear of dust had stuck to him. He looked down, then sidelong at Neji. "Have to... take the edge off, though, ya know?" He was still so hard it hurt. He reached down to cup himself from the outside of his undone pants. He dragged his hand up once, down again. The pressure through cloth wasn't so bad, though it wasn't really what he wanted. But slow. He had to do this slow.

He repeated the motion, closing his eyes as he increased the pressure. He heard a quiet footstep, felt a light brush against his arm and opened his eyes halfway, looking over. Neji was leaning on the wall next to him, hands still and clenched at his belt. The ridge of his hard cock was visible just below, pushing the cloth outward, straining to be liberated, and Naruto hid a sigh of reaction in his next breath out. He tightened his grip on himself while he controlled the desire to reach over.

He dragged his gaze to himself again, to look back down, push his trousers slowly open and his shorts down, and curl his fingers again around his cock. He exhaled on contact, closing his eyes. By Faranth, jerking off was so much more intense during a goldflight.

He pulled his fist up along the length once, twice, and then had to pause, stop himself from succumbing to the urge for harder and faster. He could see in the corner of his eye that Neji hadn't moved.

He shifted, just slightly, just enough to close the short distance between their shoulders so that they pressed together.

The contact sent a thrill through him that was completely out of proportion to the type of touch causing it.

It jolted Neji as well, making his hands twitch on his belt, and Naruto watched, fascinated, as Neji undid it with fingers as clumsy as Naruto's had been earlier. Seeing those deft hands fumble with lust was astonishing.

He kept his even, pulling rhythm as he watched. It was painstakingly slow. Neji's long fingers undid the buttons one by one, and pushed aside the thick cloth of his trousers, then paused and withdrew, curling inwards when all that remained were his undershorts, tented out barely more modestly than what they covered.

* * *

Neji felt waves of heat breaking through him over the rising burn of arousal, and he exhaled through gritted teeth at his hesitation. Naruto had seen him naked plenty of times before, too many to count by now, ever since that first time in the baths for Neji's back, and all the other normal times they'd bathed together.

But this was different. Oh, a world of difference.

Daring a glance to the side, his eyes were caught and held by the sight next to him.

Barechested, trousers low on his hips with the undone belt hanging free, Naruto's near arm moved with the rhythm of the fist that stroked his erection. And _he_ was staring at _Neji_. His gaze rose to meet Neji's, the blue of his eyes dark in the half-lit room.

Neji felt a chill that had nothing to do with cold shiver through all the heat trapped inside him. His face must have shown the reaction, because Naruto's open mouth smiled slightly. The look was so eager it would have been predatory if it hadn't also been layered over care and encouragement

The pressure against his shoulder increased briefly, Naruto's free hand moving idly to his stomach as he leaned harder into Neji for a moment, urging him on again.

Neji's gaze tracked down Naruto's chest to his stomach and the hand resting over it, downward to where Naruto's skin disappeared under his trousers. A hint of dark blond hair, damp with sweat, was visible between the parted edges of cloth, revealed whenever Naruto's hand slid up over the flushed head of his erection.

This was easier. This was better. Neji never looked at himself when he did this alone, and having tried to do that now had only hindered things.

He slid his hands into his undershorts, closing one firmly around his own erection, the other curling over the head, and then everything was, oh, it was good.

Naruto's smile widened and softened. He leaned heavily against Neji again, not moving away this time, and Neji leaned back, watching Naruto's hands pump and shift, just watching, because he could.

And Naruto was watching him back, he saw, watching Neji's own hands as one stroked smoothly and the other cupped over the head so he could apply pressure in tandem with each movement of his fist.

They were barely touching and still this was so different, so much more than anything else Neji had ever experienced. Naruto's proximity was very nearly intoxicating. The weight of the dragonlust was intensifying it, certainly, but while that lust was running through him, thick and hot, he could feel the currents of arousal that were all his own within it, brighter and faster, and though the gold dragon's flight had primed him for the extent of his reaction, this wasn't the mindlessness that was supposed to come when a rider's own dragon rose, that would make a rider respond to anyone.

Neji was reacting to _Naruto_, to Naruto's wonderful energy, endless kindness, his hungry grin and mussed blond hair, his solidly muscled body, his strong hands and the riveting sight of them moving over the proud erection and tight stomach.

All of it on display for his benefit. He'd come in and Naruto had _smiled_.

Neji bit down on the inside of his cheek, ducking his head down as the need to increase the pace overwhelmed him.

* * *

It was amazing to watch. Hair slid forward over Neji's far shoulder, the dark curtain shuddering as Neji's shoulders tightened and the motions of both hands became jerky and rough. Naruto stared and tried to commit to memory the way Neji touched himself, how he seemed to always keep a palm over the head to push against, how now his strokes were no longer smooth and even at all, but gone into a harsher rhythm.

He had to remember that.

"Come on. Come," Naruto breathed.

Neji tossed his head, eyes shut tight. Naruto swallowed, mouth opening again as he saw Neji's face as he came. Jaw tight, brows drawn together, and he heard just a hint of a sound, the first bit of noise that Neji had made all this time, a tiny whimper in his throat escaping as he ducked over his middle, hands clutching at his erection.

Almost like he'd come despite himself, the orgasm pushing through all those well-kept layers of reserve.

Naruto needed to coax it out into the open. Needed to bring him there and see it happen unabashedly. He'd do it.

He groaned a bit at the idea, rolling his head back, eyes running down the exposed line of Neji's neck, then Neji turned his head to look, face still flushed, and Naruto panted through his smile. It was almost like he could feel those pale eyes running over him, and Naruto thought he'd never need dragonlust for anything if he could have that instead.

He shoved his free hand into his pants, past his cock, to cup his balls and tug a bit, just _that_ way, and Neji was watching him, still leaning into his arm, Neji was next to him with his hands down his pants and—Naruto leaned back hard into the wall, stroked at his cock once more, twice, quick and hard, "yeah," he panted, and came, feeling it inside and out, his cock twitching in his hand, pulse throbbing under his skin.

Neji watched it all.

Naruto smiled at him for the long seconds that he leaned against the wall, enjoying the haze. The hard surface eventually worked through the fog to make his body protest about leaning on it, and he peeled himself off. He wiped his hands on his pants with a comfortable sigh. They were a lost cause right now anyway.

"Alright?" he asked quietly. Neji nodded. He was still a little flushed. He looked extremely self-conscious, but, to Naruto's cautious pleasure, not regretful at all.

Stepping away a few feet, Naruto tugged a hand towel from one of the cubbies on the wall and moved back to offer it to Neji.

He crouched down to unlace his boots while Neji wiped his hands clean, then stood up to kick them off. Neji was eyeing him as he did, the towel bunched and still in his hands.

Naruto wanted to touch Neji, now that it was a little safer, now that he wouldn't get overcome by the urge to do something that'd end up being too much, and he reached out, then pulled his hand back, looking at the dirty fingernails and grime-coated skin.

"Sorry, I'm kinda nasty now," he said with a apologetic shrug, and scratched at his jaw, where an itch reminded him of yet another patch of dirt.

Neji looked at him, eyes still a bit too wide, and Naruto decided that maybe grime didn't matter, because, of all the things they'd done so far, this was the biggest, and the one time they had barely even touched.

He reached out again, curling his fingers around the edge of Neji's hand. "Hey, hey," he said quietly. Neji let the towel drop and twisted his hand in Naruto's so they were gripping each other. He pulled, making Naruto lean forward and himself as well, and he kissed him, slowly but purposefully.

Naruto kissed back, then smiled against Neji's mouth as he felt Neji's other hand flatten on his bare stomach, fingers cool, but warming up. Naruto settled his free hand on Neji's hip, squeezing but not pulling him in. He wished Neji had a few less layers on. Or none at all.

Then Neji pushed at him, nudging him to back up against the wall again, and Naruto felt a thrill as Neji leaned against him, pinning him there, like having just gotten off had made all Neji's customary stiff manners melt away so he could mold against him, fitting their bodies against each other. Neji raised both his arms to brace his forearms on the wall above Naruto's shoulders. He broke the kiss to turn his face into Naruto's neck, breathing slowly as they stood pressed together.

Naruto raised his arms to circle Neji's midsection and hold onto him.

"I followed you," Neji said in a low voice. Naruto turned his head slightly, and rubbed his face into Neji's shoulder and neck. The cloth of Neji's shirt still smelled faintly like the air outside, clean and fresh.

"Yeah," Naruto acknowledged. Thank the First Egg for that, too.

"I wanted to..." Neji trailed off. "This…" he said, shifting his hips just enough for Naruto to feel the movement, pressing his mouth against Naruto's neck, and then his whole body tensed. Naruto lowered one hand back to Neji's waist, rubbing up and down. "But," Neji bit off, and then added nothing more.

_Gamath wins,_ Uzuth said suddenly. The flight was over now, and the dragonlust would ebb quickly with Katsuyuth caught by her longtime mate.

Naruto shrugged, knowing Neji would feel the motion. "I'd like it," he said against Neji's stiffened shoulder. "Seeing you was the hottest fucking thing I ever saw," he spoke into Neji's ear, and felt the shift of reaction down Neji's whole body. "I wanna touch you," he tightened his fingers momentarily on Neji's hip, "and taste you, I wanna do everything with you," he thought it was important for Neji to know that. "S'good that you want it too," he finished, hugging Neji tight. Then he pulled his arms between them to push Neji back enough that he could see his face.

The dissipating of the dragonlust had allowed most of Neji's normal reserve to settle back in, though Naruto could read the hints of distressed confusion and frustration as Neji straightened and dropped his arms to his sides.

"Thanks for sayin' so," Naruto grinned at him.

Neji's face cleared at that, and Naruto felt a little tension of his own ease into relief, thankful he'd managed to find the right thing to say.

_Why wouldn't you?_ Uzuth asked.

_I gotta big mouth,_ Naruto replied, _It's hard to think about what I say before it comes out._

Uzuth replied with agreement and fondness together. _I suppose I can't deny that._.

_I wanna tell him I want him, but I don't wanna drag him into stuff._

_Has he ever hesitated to stop what he didn't like you doing?_ Uzuth pointed out, and Naruto felt the rest of his tension fade.

He reached up to sling one arm around up Neji's neck, and pull him close one more time, kissing him again, gently but firmly. The response was unhesitating, and Naruto let go, gratified.

He also yawned, hard enough to make his eyes water, turning into Neji's shoulder again to lean while his body forcibly reminded him of the hour. When he stood back, he saw Neji's hand lowering from a yawn of his own. The fatigue of the long day seemed to have caught up to them both at once. Well, and orgasms helped, Naruto thought gleefully.

"Alright, bath time," Naruto said, scrubbing the heel of one hand into his eye. "You wanna come over and see my new place tomorrow?" Naruto asked, unable to keep the pride out of his voice, and Neji nodded, a small smile of his own brightening his sleepy features.

"Goodnight," he said, nodding in a polite way that was so very Neji, especially after what had just happened, that Naruto felt his chest tighten.

"Yeah," Naruto replied, grinning in return.

* * *

Neji left the bathing room and pulled the door firmly closed behind him. The air in the hall was much cooler, but the contrast wasn't harsh, just soothing, and a welcome fresh jolt to keep him alert on the walk to bed. He felt very good, now, slightly dazed still, but obscurely proud, and a little smug, and heart-quickenly nervous in a way that didn't feel clammy and off-putting but just made him want... more.

It could be good to follow one's instincts. Neji smiled to himself. Naruto had been trying to show him that for ages now.

Another one of the bathing room doors opened and Weyrlingmaster Kakashi sauntered out, hair damp, with his shirt half-laced and his coat over his shoulder with Pakkun riding on the other. He came to a halt when he saw Neji, and his eyebrows rose with slow consideration. Neji felt his own eyes widen hugely, and he took a short breath to let himself get his expression back under control. The warmth in his face, however, belied any effort on his part.

Someone bumped into Kakashi from behind with a muffled "oof," and Neji wanted to slap a hand to his forehead as Candidatemaster Iruka stepped around Kakashi, his hair loose and his shirt untucked. His eyebrow-raise mimicked Kakashi's perfectly.

Neji's mind raced, trying to imagine what they were thinking, if they suspected anything inappropriate, or just assumed that he'd been into the baths alone. Master Kakashi would know he'd been on watch, so normal curfew didn't apply and thus there ought to be no risk of reprimand... That was reassuring. But, that aside, they had to have some idea what he was doing here, and that appeared to be a great surprise to them both.

Neji felt a sudden flare of disgruntled annoyance at that. As awkward as this all was making him feel, did they really both have to act that shocked? He wasn't made of stone.

"Good evening, Masters," Neji said, and with a great effort he got out the words with the same politeness he would have used on a normal day, passing either of them in the halls, and nothing more. No apology or excusing himself. He couldn't control his complexion but he was _not_ going to act embarrassed. He continued on in his original direction without looking back.

* * *

Kakashi waited until Neji had turned the corner before letting his amusement show. Laughing silently, Kakashi glanced at Iruka, who was shaking his head with a smile of his own, and they started along the hall that would take them to the weyrbowl.

"I thought he might pass out for a moment there," Iruka said, looking rather chagrined around his mirth.

"Definitely time for them to be getting out of the barracks," Kakashi replied, "some of them are about to explode from trying to do it in secret." The rules against fraternization, in theory, were meant to last until a weyrling's graduation. In practice, they were increasingly bent and often broken after the weyrlings moved to private quarters. This was inevitable and expected, and the weyrlingstaff rarely did much but keep a careful watch on training performance and morale. With the dragons more than old enough to be comfortable with a rider's attention turning to a bed partner, it was up to each rider to demonstrate their maturity, and the privilege of greater freedom was theirs to keep as long as they maintained their skills. By the letter of the rules, that meant private quarters. In practice, it included all that private quarters could have to offer.

Kakashi had no doubts about Neji's maturity and self-control--frankly he'd had concerns about the excess of the latter, but it seemed he had little cause to worry anymore. Naruto's maturity, well... one thought more about Naruto's unflagging drive, in that case, than his endless hyperactivity and his very typically adolescent humor. But Naruto was one of the most devoted to training Kakashi had ever seen, and Kakashi was proud.

If the two of them were together now... Iruka started chuckling as they walked, and Kakashi raised an eyebrow, and Iruka shrugged slightly, expression mellow with contentment. "He's come a long way," he said, "You brought him here, you remember how he was."

"Hm," Kakashi agreed, and reached out to push open the door that would let them outside.

Hataketh was asleep, but Umith landed to carry them up to bed. Kakashi looked up around the walls of the Weyr. The light from Naruto's was visible, low on the wall, one of the few he could spot—most people drew their curtains by this hour—and certainly the brightest.

Well, Kakashi thought, of course it was.


	19. Chapter 18 Best Laid Plans

* * *

Shikamaru was laden like a pack animal, his arms looped over with parcels on strings and bags containing smaller packages. He was holding two fat bolts of fabric and his backpack hung heavy on his shoulders.

He grumbled under his breath as he walked next to Neji, who carried a few things himself, but not nearly as many. Naruto hadn't had the sudden decision to make his own shirts; Chouji had become tired of having his clothes altered by the Weyr's lower cavern's staff, his girth having followed him thus far into training, though there was more muscle under it than before.

"Chouji had better use this stuff," Shikamaru sighed, but Neji had seen him help Chouji get the best deal for his purchase, and didn't pay any more than the usual half-an-ear of attention to Shikamaru's complaints.

Shikamaru halted, their path blocked by a large group of people passing by, and stared upward for a moment. Neji followed his gaze. The light from overstuffed glowbaskets, lit torches and the bonfires at the central square washed out some of the lighter starts, but the brighter ones were still visible.

The gather at Konoha Hold was a two-day affair, and ran nearly every hour of those two days, scheduled as it was between Threadfalls. Neji's weyrling classmates were all here, scouring the vendor stalls for the best deals they could get for almost anything they could want.

Because tomorrow, the second day of the gather and a restday, was also the day they all left the barracks for the last time and moved into their own weyrs. Neji was looking forward to that as much as anyone, and like the rest, had come to this gather to gather a few items to make his new home his own.

Everyone's weyr needed "stuff," as Naruto had gleefully said. Naruto had been out of the barracks six weeks already, but this was the first big gather after he and Uzuth had moved out, so he, like the rest of them, had been ready with his money pouch to hunt down a variety of things.

Shikamaru, having already been well settled into his own weyr six months ago, had become general transporter and beast of burden to many of his friends—Lee had suffered the same fate. Byakuth, Uzuth and the rest had yet to be trained for travel _between_. They didn't have the proven skills to move almost instantly from one location to another like their older fellows did, so any weyrlings below that level of training relied on whoever they could ask, beg or bribe to ferry them around.

Almost any dragonrider was amenable to dropping a weyrling off—the harder part was securing a ride home. At the end of a night of fun, your ride might well be busy, asleep, drunk, or have forgotten about you. Shikamaru and Lee were reliable, so Neji counted himself lucky.

The bustle was still going strong, even though night had fallen. The well-lit gather grounds were as full of people as they'd been when Neji and Naruto had slid off Master Kakashi's blue, so even now Shikamaru and Neji were angling around clumps of people and avoiding collision with other laden shoppers.

"Is it this way?" Neji paused with Shikamaru at an intersection, and then followed him down a widening passage that opened onto the south end of the open square at the center of the stalls. The bonfire circle in the middle was ringed by people dancing to the music provided by harpers on a raised platform, and eating tables waited on by Hold-hired servers were arranged along the outside. Tents, firepit-grills, and temporary wooden structures offered food and drink. The smells were tantalizing, and Neji found himself impatient that the others would hurry and join them so they could all eat together like they'd decided earlier.

He was mildly annoyed at himself for having agreed to wait with all these packages—just because he was more systematic about buying things, and was already done, he had been loaded down while everyone else shopped for more. It was a kind of irritation that he was happy to realize he felt, however, strange as that was. A sort of aggravation that was purely surface, and almost fond. It was reassuring to know he could be displeased or annoyed with someone in a way that had no impact on the strength of the relationship.

And Naruto _was_ a massive pain sometimes—he'd grown up perfecting ways to draw people's attention by loud and often obnoxious behaviour, Neji had come to understand, and it still showed. But sometime long ago all that had stopped mattering beyond just being a part of Naruto—he had no desire to change it. Well, perhaps that was wrong; Neji would not complain if Naruto learned to calm down more easily, to sit still in training classes... but if he never did, he never did.

Anyway, annoyance aside, Neji liked doing things to make Naruto happy, and the huge, eager grin when Neji had taken his purchases to free him up for more bargain-hunting had certainly been one of those times. _So I suffer for him,_ Neji remarked to Byakuth with a mental mimicry of Naruto's most melodramatic whining tone.

_You're very noble,_ Byakuth replied, chuckling sleepily into his mind. The blue was at home on his couch, and ready for rest, even if his rider wasn't.

Not that Neji really wanted to keep wandering through the stalls, though; he didn't understand the entertainment some people got out of it. Naruto had rolled his eyes at that and said half the fun was finding the things you didn't know you wanted. Neji had replied that it was mostly a good way to run out of money. Naruto had stuck his tongue out and dropped his last package into Neji's arms.

"Over here," Shikamaru nudged him with the ends of the cloth bolts. Neji turned and saw a stand with a variety of tapped casks behind it, and the chalkboard announcing the price list for an unexpectedly varied list of ciders. "One and a half marks for a half-pint of their regular," Shikamaru nodded approvingly. "Good."

He unloaded his burden on one of the longer tables, where there was enough room for everyone to sit, when they arrived, and Neji did likewise, then left Shikamaru to wait for the server while he sought out the latrine.

"They certainly don't have candidates to do chores around here," he muttered when he returned, thoroughly unimpressed by the standards of cleanliness. Shikamaru huffed a laugh, leaning on one arm and staring upward again. He raised a mug to drink, and Neji found a matching one in front of him when he sat down.

He lifted it and sniffed experimentally. He had never had wine or beer or any of their relatives before coming to the Weyr—Hyuuga didn't waste its fine wine on the Cousins, and Neji hadn't wanted to dull his mind at all at any rate, not in that environment. At Konoha, he'd eventually tried some, but the Weyr's freely available wines and ales never really appealed, seeming too dry or bitter. Naruto drank them often enough, though he'd said many times that it was nothing special; the good stuff was reserved for high-ranking riders, or people who could afford to buy it, and that didn't surprise Neji at all. But the stuff in his mug now smelled appealing enough. Cider came from apples or pears, he knew, and the scent gave that away, but there was spice in it as well, and an experimental sip was pleasantly sweet, with honey, he thought. His first swallow had no harsh bite to it, but left a pleasant warm feeling as it went down.

"Hm," he looked down at it thoughtfully. Not bad. Now if the others would only arrive. He hadn't eaten much at supper in anticipation of eating at this gather, and that had been hours ago now. Hunger was gnawing at him, but this should calm that a little.

Calm, it turned out, was not quite the right word.

"You're DRUNK!" Naruto exclaimed. Neji blinked at him, offering a vague half-smile for a moment before he drifted again, just staring at Naruto's wide eyes and fire-lit shape.

"Whaa...t?" he asked. He felt very warm and rather sleepy. Naruto looked quite appealing just now. Neji reached out, trying to touch him, though he found his arm felt heavier than it was supposed to.

"You're seriously drunk!" Naruto said again. "I can't believe it." Neji kept on reaching, and Naruto finally grabbed his hand and held it. Neji propped his head on his other hand, satisfied. He liked touching Naruto, and he was a little lonely. Byakuth was asleep now, and Shikamaru had gone off somewhere because Chouji had showed up.

Neji looked down into his mug. There was still some of that nice golden-brown cider at the bottom, shining in the light from the nearest torch. He was torn, and tried to work out whether he'd rather keep holding on to Naruto or get his hand free to lift up the mug again.

He lifted his head from his hand, and was pleased to discover he could finish his mug _and_ keep holding Naruto's hand. So he did. He looked up again when he'd drained his mug. Naruto was still watching him.

"_Drunk_." Naruto shook his head, and then he laughed a bit, so Neji smiled again for him, not quite sure what was funny.

* * *

_He's DRUNK!!_ Naruto exclaimed to Uzuth. The bronze sent the mental equivalent of an eyeroll.

_I heard you the first three times._ Uzuth replied, though his amusement was on par with Naruto's, even if a good portion of it was also _at_ Naruto. _Your usually extensive vocabulary appears to have failed you, rider,_ Uzuth needled him.

Naruto was seriously torn between giving in to massive guffaws or just standing and boggling. He hadn't noticed until he was right up close—Neji looked almost normal, he was quiet, not giggling his ass off like Kiba did when he was drunk, or getting loud, like Naruto knew he himself became. But Neji's eyes were tracking slowly, kind of glassy, and he definitely wasn't replying to Naruto like he normally did.

And the light here wasn't the best, but when Neji had put his hand up to lean on and tilted his face to catch more illumination, Naruto had been sure he'd drunk too much—Neji's face was now _red_. It wasn't surprising, since Hinata's face did that too, but Naruto hadn't expected Neji to go from his usual self to flushed-drunk in an hour, at most. Or, frankly, at all.

The piles of tied packets, packages, bags and boxes were all here at least, even if Shikamaru wasn't.

"Naruto!" Chouji's voice carried to them, and Naruto turned to see him and Ino, as well as Shikamaru, all carrying still more packages. Shikamaru looked aggravatedly resigned, but Chouji was carrying the heaviest load anyway.

"What did he have?!" Naruto demanded of Shikamaru, still half laughing.

"Just the regular, the pale sweet," Shikamaru nodded at the menu sign. "Nothing really hard."

"He drank..?" Chouji looked at Neji, then squinted and stared closer, eyebrows rising "Oh. Wow."

Ino giggled behind her hand. "Oh, oh look! He's smiling," she observed. And Neji was, looking at Naruto, and his calm little smile widened briefly when Naruto looked at him. Ino giggled again, and Naruto gave her a sidelong look at the frank appreciation in her voice. She raised her eyebrows unapologetically, and winked.

"Can't hold his liquor," Shikamaru observed. "He was just finishing the first when Chouji came over, I don't know how many--"

"Four. Sirs and madam," one of the servers sidled in to retrieve Neji's empty mug. Neji watched it go with a slight frown. "I believe the third was to be your second, bronze weyrling," he told Shikamaru, "and then he asked for another."

"I guess he likes cider, then, good he found something, finally," Naruto laughed. Neji was studying the tabletop now, rubbing his fingers over the grain that was barely visible in the torchlight. "No more, though, I think... did he pay yet?"

"Neji! I found—oh!" Hinata, trailed by Shino and Kiba, approached the table as Naruto settled the bill. She carried a woven bag with some purchases, and both boys had a few of their own. Kiba appeared to have an entire rolled-up rug over his shoulder. "Oh, my," Hinata came to a stop, when she realized just what everyone was looking at.

"Hey," Shikamaru leaned over and spoke quietly, "you might wanna take him back." Naruto looked at him, surprised at the audible concern. Shikamaru shrugged and asked, "He's never done this before, right?"

Naruto grimaced, his amusement fading as he realized what Shikamaru meant. Even if Neji only dozed off, which he seemed about to do at any moment, this wasn't the place. As it was, Naruto was pretty sure Neji would be utterly mortified at his lapse of self-control when he sobered up. And if anything worse happened, he definitely wouldn't want to be here.

"Neji," Naruto leaned forward over the table to him and murmured, "I think it's time to go, huh? You're sleepy, eh? Want to lie down?"

"Byakuth's asleep," Neji noted. Naruto smiled a little.

"That's good, Neji. C'mon." He backed up to go around the end of the table and put a hand on Neji's warm back.

"I'll get Narath and take you back," Shikamaru said, and turned to wander off in the direction of the landing area, stretching his arms over his head as he disappeared around a knot of laughing people.

Everyone else got out of Naruto's way, arranged themselves around the table, and Naruto worked at getting Neji to stand up. It was doable, he found, though Neji apparently felt very strongly that he wanted to hold onto Naruto's arm, and when Naruto gently detached one hand so he could turn around, Neji put the other back. He wasn't making a massive physical fuss, but for Neji, this was just about the same degree of altered behaviour that made some people turn clingy or start groping people. Neji wasn't doing that at least— and as much as Naruto wouldn't have minded it, he knew Neji would be scandalized to remember or be told about that later. He just held on, looking solemn and sleepy. Then he closed his eyes and bowed his head to Naruto's shoulder, resting with a contented sigh, and Naruto knew they should really go home.

Hinata was at his other elbow. "Will you be alright?" she asked, her worry plain. Naruto nodded, and they steered Neji around the end of the table.

"Yeah, it's all good. I'll just take him back and put him to bed. See if I can get some water into him so he doesn't feel like dying tomorrow." When he looked over, everyone was watching. "Sorry guys," he apologized. "Bet he won't do this again," he looked over at the top of Neji's head and snorted gently. "He'll want to murder us all tomorrow for seeing this, what d'ya figure?"

"Least he's not an angry or whiny drunk," Chouji shrugged, pointedly not looking at Ino, who most definitely did get whiny as well as extremely handsy. As Naruto cast about to try and figure out which packages in the pile were his and Neji's, Chouji added, "We'll bring your stuff."

_Narath is ready,_ Uzuth alerted him, and Naruto gave the rest of them a wave and tugged Neji to start him in the direction of the landing area.

Neji followed him with no trouble beyond some expected balance and coordination problems. It proved just as well that he was holding onto Naruto's arm when he tripped and lurched as they made their way. He murmured now and then, or paused to stare at something at a crafter's stall.

Naruto couldn't help looking too, despite their sort-of hurry. Today's shopping had been fun. He'd found a tunic in the loudest and most brilliant shade of orange he'd ever seen, trimmed with black, and that wonderful piece of clothing was folded carefully in his backpack, next to a small packet of embroidery thread, a fresh deck of cards, and a new green-dyed cloth money pouch with eyes sewn on to look like one of the hoppers from the Weyr lake's shallows. The rest was back at the table—a spiral-patterned wall hanging, a new pair of boots, and a box of drawing chalks, among other things. He still had a little cash left from his savings, the monthly Weyr allowance had been piling up for some time now, but, like most of his class, there hadn't been that much he had really needed to spend money on until he'd had his own space.

"Books," Neji said, the vagueness of his tone sharpening some, and Naruto let himself be pulled to a stop again. He read very little himself, he didn't like sitting still and quiet for all that time, but Neji had often borrowed books from the weyrharpers' library. He had none of his own, though, hadn't brought any with him from Hyuuga, and had never taken the opportunity to buy any. Owning anything expensive--and books were--while living in the barracks was a risky proposition, it could easily be lost or damaged.

"Sorry," Naruto apologized with apologetic chagrin to the stall owner as Neji parked himself in front of one of the display tables and bent to examine each volume with the too-deliberate slowness of someone whose mental faculties weren't at normal speed. "Neji, come on."

Neji made a noise of protest and resisted Naruto's tug. He was looking down at a particular book with open interest, and Naruto leaned over as well, expecting to see a history volume, or one of those compilations of historical ballads and poems, just like what Neji normally read.

Instead, he was met with _Stories of Winged Romance_. The subtitle proclaimed the tales within to be about "unexpected love."

Naruto looked at Neji again, bemused at the _lack_ of surprise he felt, which was an odd feeling. But Neji was so stifled and stuck in himself normally, despite what Naruto now knew was beneath that exterior, that it wasn't a shocking revelation to see him drawn to something like this when his inhibitions were lowered.

And a lot less pandemonium-causing than Naruto, last time he'd gotten drunk on a restday. He'd taken up an equally drunken Lee's wrestling challenge. He'd lost, badly, but it had drawn some of the weyrlingmasters to disperse the crowd. Neji had told him afterwards they'd been afraid it was a real fight—ridiculous! Naruto didn't remember much of it, just that Lee had been slippery as a tunnel-snake, Naruto had been trounced, and they'd been tangled up and laughing at the end.

Typical of Neji that his equivalent measure of "extreme" behaviour was looking at a book of sappy romance stories.

That book, along some of the others, were the kinds of volumes the harpers brought out in the evenings, reading to anyone who wanted to listen as light entertainment that was less elaborate to prepare than a play performance and longer than most tales that were commonly told aloud from memory. Sometimes the book was epic adventure, sometimes dashing romance, sometimes tales of underhanded doings in hold or hall politics. Each genre had its own fans.

Naruto attended the readings when the mood struck him, vastly better able to listen to a real voice and imagine what was happening, instead of struggling with text on a page. the Readings were especially nice after a day of hard physical training. Neji came with him sometimes. Naruto's preferences ran to the adventure stories, though he liked most anything, really. Neji would not sit through any kind of intrigue, the first time he'd come to one of those and realized the vein of the story, his face had gone cool and stiff, and he hadn't returned to the circle after the halfpoint break.

But while Neji often borrowed a volume to read instead of joining the listening group, Naruto had eventually caught on that if the tale of the day was romance, Neji was far more likely to feign boredom with other options and accompany Naruto than otherwise.

What was it Naruto had heard about gifts; the best ones were often things you wanted, but would never buy for yourself. Neji, on a normal day, would probably have been staring at the next section over, with all the non-fiction and history, like the one he'd bought earlier today, and studiously ignoring all the good stuff.

"I'll take that one," Naruto picked up the book. The price, as he'd expected, was high, but he had enough. "Alright, see? We got it. I'm putting it in my bag," he tugged Neji onward again. "Let's go home."

Neji nodded and followed.

They were nearly to the landing area when Neji slowed to a halt again.

"Feel sick," he said, his voice gone low and strained, his demeanour gone from mellow and relaxed to bewildered and ill.

"Oh. Fuck." Naruto had hoped Neji might avoid that. He'd suffered the same his first time drinking a lot—downed his drinks too fast, and they had come right back up. That had been years ago, back at Konoha Hold, he'd been eleven or so. He'd found someone's secret stash while exploring, and downed two bottles of some heavily ginger-spiced, unlabeled liquor that had kept him drinking it, feeling giddy and then warmer and warmer until he'd quickly emptied the little cache. Too quickly—his stomach had started to feel like it was tearing him apart.

Young people at the Weyr were considered at majority for drinking once they turned sixteen, and when he'd been properly of age, Naruto had taken to alcohol with a little more caution and a dislike of spiced drinks. "C'mon, let's go." Naruto was thankful Shikamaru had urged him to get Neji away. He really would have hated a crowd for this.

It got worse as they walked, and before long Neji was struggling against throwing up. He managed to hold on, and Naruto got them out of the main walkways without any incidents, but even after Naruto found a suitably hidden alcove between two of the slat-wall fence panels that had been set up to mark off the landing area, Neji was still holding it in, skin clammy and shoulders hunched and rigid. He turned away from Naruto to press his hands and forehead against the rough wood.

"Hey, hey," Naruto said quietly, "don't keep it down, alright?" He grimaced unhappily at having to tell him that. Neji made a groan of miserable disbelief, and Naruto put a hand out to rub his back once, and then got a loose hold of Neji's hair. "I know, but you'll feel better. Keeping it in will just make it worse for longer." _Tell Narath we'll be there, but Neji's sicking up, he needs a little time._ He sent to Uzuth. The bronze obliged, and afterwards Naruto could hear him talking to Byakuth, the blue woken from his sleep by his rider's discomfort.

Even though Naruto wasn't sure how much of it Neji himself was feeling through the effects of the cider, the embarrassment of this was awful for Naruto, feeling it on Neji's behalf—far worse than it would have been if Naruto himself were the one ill. He did undignified crap all the time, it didn't matter. But he was dearly grateful for Neji that this hadn't happened in front of anyone else.

Either Neji gave in, or was finally overwhelmed, because it was only a few moments more before he dragged a hand down the wood slats, bending over the other arm clutched across his stomach, and, after a few stomach-roiling false starts, threw up.

Uzuth offered some sympathetic comfort as Naruto held Neji's hair back and steadied him so he didn't get any of it on either of them.

Neji vomited three times before it turned to dry heaves and miserable coughing, his thoughts still obviously muddled when he raised his head at last. Naruto helped him straighten up and lean against the fence again. Neji didn't open his eyes, but his mingled relief and shame were plain to see.

"Hurts," he groaned quietly. He pushed himself away from the fence, staggered a step, and Naruto gently caught his arm to steer him onward.

"We're going home, we're going. Um. Wipe your face, we'll change you when we get there. Yeah, good," he watched Neji scrub miserably at his mouth and chin with his shirt sleeve, and then led him on.

Shikamaru and Narath were waiting when they arrived, and Naruto felt a little guilty, but didn't hurry Neji any faster than the dogged stumbling stride he was already managing.

"Sorry," Naruto said when they got close enough. Neji's shoulders jerked and he doubled over again, his stomach still straining to reject what was already gone.

Shikamaru shrugged and made a vaguely sympathetic face. "It's fine."

Uzuth was still talking to Byakuth, reassuring him that his rider was going to be fine and was being taken care of, and Naruto felt a pang for the blue, stuck back at the Weyr and unable to fetch his rider and comfort him himself.

_We will start learning between soon,_ Uzuth said, trying to offer some comfort to Naruto as well.

_Yeah_ Naruto said, without enthusiasm. This was the one and only part of training he was not looking forward to. He did not enjoy _between_.

Narath took off, his launch smooth, though Neji still groaned slightly in Naruto's arms as they rose into the air. Naruto rubbed his arms, feeling useless, and held him securely, for Neji's sake as much as his own, as Shikamaru took them home.

Byakuth took off from the rim as soon as they reappeared over the Weyr, coming to match their descent as Narath landed them on Naruto's ledge. Shikamaru replied to Naruto's sound of surprise with an over the shoulder eyebrow raise. Naruto shrugged in reply and made a grateful expression. Shikamaru was right, Naruto hadn't planned to let Neji recover in the barracks. If he spent one night early away from where he was meant to sleep, especially on a Gather night, no one would care.

Uzuth moved back inside his couch room to make space for Byakuth to set down after Narath did, the blue's worry overriding the crowding that three dragons caused on the ledge. Byakuth fidgeted beside Narath as Naruto and Shikamaru helped Neji get down. He looked marginally more alert, the fresh air from the flight, not to mention the freezing shock of _between_ had restored a little of his balance, but the hot flush still coloured his face and he stumbled into Naruto when he hit the ground.

"Yeah. Alright. Here you go," he maneuvered Neji against Byakuth, letting the blue reassure himself while Neji leaned against him.

Naruto watched Narath take off again, Shikamaru efficient and not staying any longer than necessary. When he turned to Neji, he was met with a distressed look. "Didn't... thank him," Neji said, breathing too hard, his face still glowing warm and red, but his neck was damp with clammy sweat.

"It's fine. You can do it tomorrow, right?" Naruto soothed him. "How d'you feel?"

"Ugh," Neji turned over to lean back against Byakuth's chest, raising an unsteady hand to pat the blue's nose when Byakuth curved his neck down to nuzzle at Neji. He closed his eyes tightly, and rolled his head to one side than the other. "Sick," he gritted. "But not as bad." Belying those words, he winced, shoved Byakuth's head away, and folded over his middle again. Another dry heave, but not as violent.

Naruto took his arm and brought him inside, parking him at the dresser that had his washing bowl. The water barrel on his ledge would've been filled today, but this morning's water would be fine to cool Neji's off a little. He soaked a cloth, wrung it out, and handed it to Neji, who held it to his face with both hands. Naruto walked him backwards to sit on the bed, then hurried out to the water barrel, grabbing one of his clean mugs and his mop bucket along the way.

When he got back, Neji had his head up, and was staring forward. "This isn't the barracks."

"Nope," Naruto replied quietly. He put the bucket down at Neji's feet. "Can you drink?" he asked gently, "here," he offered him the mug, standing close and not letting go of it all the way when Neji took it. "You'll feel better tomorrow if you can keep that down."

Neji sipped slowly, about half of it, then pushed the mug away and hunched over his middle again. "Thank you," he said between long breaths. Then, "sorry."

"Thought maybe you'd rather not wake up in the barracks tomorrow," he said with a little shrug.

"Wouldn't... no... but," Neji said, voice hitching as he fought queasiness. "Sorry," he said again. "Never met... your friend."

"Oh yeah..." Naruto trailed off. He'd forgotten, while dealing with this. He'd wanted to get Neji his meal tonight at Ichiraku's stall, share with him one of the few good memories he had of Konoha Hold, and catch up a little with the man who'd offered him his one refuge over his years there.

Naruto _was_ disappointed, and on the heels of that he felt a selfish little burst of aggravation that Neji had chosen this day to throw aside his usual caution and drink himself sick. But it was necessarily in passing because Neji was just that—sick, and Naruto was more sympathetic than annoyed. Neji had chosen to drink, but Naruto knew how fast good booze could go down when you found you liked what you were drinking.

"Well, whatever, it's fine," he told him, shrugging a bit, "we'll go tomorrow maybe." He'd passed by Ichiraku's stall earlier today anyway, just to say hello, so there was less regret than there might have been.

Neji took a long breath, then reached for the mug again. Naruto let him hold it this time, and went to fill another mug. He found Byakuth lying on the floor beside the Uzuth's couch, fast asleep. Naruto laughed a little, and stepped carefully around the blue on his way out and back in again. Neji had to be comfortable enough here, then.

He left the extra mug on the side table, and found some clothes Neji could sleep in. When Neji'd finally downed all the water in his first mug, and decided it would stay down, he started struggling out of his tunic. Naruto helped him, and had to bite back stupid jokes about undressing him as he pulled the tunic over his head and then knelt to unlace his boots while Neji wrestled with taking off his shirt and putting on the one Naruto had given him.

After the boots were gone, the trousers were no trouble, and Naruto pulled back the covers so Neji could lie down. He rolled onto his side, sinking into the pillow like his head was made of rock. Naruto covered him again and shifted the bucket nearer to the head of the bed. If Neji fell asleep now, he should be alright, but one never really knew.

_Well, that's not how I expected to get him into bed up here the first time,_ Naruto told Uzuth as he wandered around to get his own clothes to sleep in. He looked down at Neji with a sympathetic sigh as he changed. _Poor guy._

_Byakuth was very relieved you took him here,_ Uzuth said.

_Yeah, I figured. Hope you don't mind sharing._

_No more than you do,_ Uzuth replied comfortably.

Naruto lay down, trying not to jostle Neji. He settled back, sticking his hands behind his head. He wasn't tired, certainly not enough to drop off soon, and if Neji's drinking was causing him to miss the fun everyone else was having… well, the frustration of that was easily outweighed by his need to make sure Neji was as comfortable as he could be.

The last time they'd share a bed... had been before their dragons. Naruto smiled. It felt like a lifetime ago, like many other things... Neji's long-gone standoffishness and fear, Naruto's stupid blunder with the bad jokes, that horrible cave-in.

Clutching fear dug fine but icy claws into him at that memory of the choking dark, like always, like it did whenever he considered _between_ for too long. Uzuth roused from his doze to flood him with concerned reassurance. Naruto replied with wordless thanks and shook his head at himself. _Between_ would be fine, Uzuth would be there, as he would be for the rest of their lives. There was no reason to fear any of it. And it was a skill he had to learn, and master, and be great at, if he wanted to be a great rider.

Naruto sighed, scratching one hand back through his hair and putting his hands behind his head on the pillow, considering his surroundings for a moment. He had his dragon, he had his home, he had people he loved... most of them.

He shouldn't be bothering with whining about stupid old fears, not to himself or anyone else—he had no reason to complain at all, only goals to reach.

Shoving aside the pointless dread, he let Uzuth's comfort fill him, and listened to Neji's breathing slow down and even out, wishing a dragon's concern could soothe drinking sickness as easily as minor emotional upheaval.

Sitting up, Naruto got carefully off the bed and wandered out to where he'd dropped his backpack on the way in. He opened it and pulled out the new book, wandering back to bed and sitting again. The half-covered glowbasket still left enough light to read by. If he couldn't sleep, this could be entertaining. And if it wasn't, he'd fall asleep that much faster.

There was an embossed dragon on the bottom corner of the front cover, the small shape dyed green, and Naruto raised his eyebrows. He hadn't seen that until now, the green dye not standing out against the dark grey cover as the gold-leafed title and subtitle did. Naruto glanced back at Neji, and wondered if he'd seen that mark when he'd been staring at the vendor's selection.

Most books were printed for harpers or rich holders. Because of traditional views of Weyrs as sexual free-for-alls, dragon marks on books were a sign of explicit content. So maybe this wasn't _quite_ what the harpers read to everyone.

And the green dragon, well. Neji might've dropped this book like it had stung him, at one time. Naruto grinned a little and opened the book to the first story.

'Journeyman harper Erryk had white hair in a long braid, despite being only nineteen years of age. He was six feet tall with purple eyes and could use a sword like the best-trained guardsman at Konoha Hold, and had ten fire lizards.'

"What..." Naruto bit his lips to stop from laughing as the story went into extensive and surprising detail about Erryk's clothes. In the story, Erryk went on to find an injured male greenrider lying in the road—the dragon apparently unable to think of summoning help—and nursed him back to health. As a reward, they had some creative, detailed and unlikely sex, due to the author apparently having forgotten the dragonrider's arm had been broken...

The next story was about a young male bluerider's first watchdragon posting, where the fellow managed to woo one of the extra sons of the Lord Holder out of a terrible depressive funk. And it culminated with, yes, detailed sex, this time without logic-defying broken arms. Naruto liked this one somewhat better, even if he thought the holder's son guy acted like he didn't actually come with male equipment between his legs half the time.

Checking back to the title page of the story to read the author's name, and then just going back to the contents page, Naruto was confused to see that all the authors in this volume were women. That explained some things. Naruto wasn't sure why women would want to write this sort of thing, but it was funny stuff, at least.

Re-settling himself so he could read without getting a cramp in his neck, Naruto turned the page to the next story. Neji had offered up some truly brilliant entertainment tonight, even if he didn't realize it yet. It was going to be fun to tell him in the morning.


	20. Chapter 19 Persistence

Emptiness all around, and Neji could feel nothing but the presence of Byakuth in his mind, though his brain quickly supplied the freezing sensation that the void of _Between_ caused in so many. He held firm to the visualization of Konoha Weyr's starstones, the first visualization they'd learned. The carved-stone pillars with openings at the top, their shape and colour, weathered smoothnesses and sharp edges of cracks in the old rock. The abyss of sensory deprivation seemed to stretch, though Neji knew it was mere seconds, the lack of sound, of touch, of breath...

_We are together,_ Byakuth reminded him, fearless and eager. _Between_ was natural to dragons and their tiny fire lizard cousins, and Byakuth's calm made the transition through this non-space infinitely less unnerving.

And then Byakuth was over the stones, exactly where he was meant to be, wings beating in even, comfortable strokes. Neji exhaled in a rush, relieved despite himself, even though his visualization had never faltered, and Byakuth had never had a moment of worry.

He pulled himself upright, and Byakuth wheeled away from the starstones, heading back to the row of weyrling pairs perched on the rim. They were met with raised fists and bellowing bugles of congratulations, just as Sakura, Hinata, and the rest who'd gone before had been.

The atmosphere was charged, but not with the same anticipation that had come with their first flights. _Between_ was dangerous. Yes, a flight could wobble, a landing could become a crash, but there was help to be had then. Going _between_, a rider had to hold their mental image in place, or never come out. And it was the first step of many more, all dangerous, all needed to meet Thread in the sky and protect the territory; going _between_ in formation, joining the weyrling resupply wing and heading up into Threadfall, beginning Threadfall simulation practices, with live flame from their dragons...

And just over a year from now, if all went well, they would be graduated, in fighting wings with the full riders.

But before any of that, they each had to be able to hold the mental image of the Weyr's starstones in their mind. It had to be their reflex, the one thing they must always be able to remember, even if they forgot anything else, so that even in the pain and fear of being struck by Thread they could bring themselves home.

And Neji had managed the first test. So far, so good.

Byakuth settled to land, folding his wings and leaning over to touch muzzles with Shoryuth. On her back, Tenten smiled across at Neji with relief, and he took another long, even breath and nodded back.

On Byakuth's other side, Uzuth's spot was already vacant, the bronze above and hovering, reading to follow Master Kakashi's command to hop the couple of dragonlengths to the starstones.

The distance was ridiculous to look at. Any of them could glide there in seconds, every dragonpair now used to much longer flights after the past weeks of stamina training. But for practical purposes, a trip _between_ was the same whether it was made from a few dragonlengths away or three thousand feet in the air after Threadfall.

Neji looked upward, frowning a little as he watched the bronze pair, sympathetic worry niggling at him. Naruto had been nervous today. Not obviously so, but he'd been louder than usual, a little excessive in his reactions, whether laughter or annoyance or whining, and so Neji worried.

_Between_ wasn't a locked cupboard or a pitch-dark cave-in. But it still must be troubling, Neji didn't doubt that. He certainly hadn't been unconcerned about this stage in their training. He'd been _between_ a few times since that first ride with Master Kakashi that had brought him to the Weyr, and each time had been unnerving all the way to his core. But Byakuth's presence had made the later trips, like his ill-fated trip out to the Konoha Hold Gather, far less terrible. Surely Uzuth did the same for Naruto—but Neji had always seen the tension, every trip. And now he had to do it alone.

_Uzuth will carry him safely,_ Byakuth reassured. _He is not worried about his rider showing him the way._

_I know,_ Neji answered, rubbing at Byakuth's neck with sympathetic tension of his own. All of them had needed their visualizations checked for clarity by their dragons before today, and then their dragons had had to pass it along to the weyrlingmaster dragon and rider. Hataketh and Kakashi had approved them all.

Neji pulled his hand into a fist and rested it on his thigh when he noticed his nervous motion. He didn't doubt Naruto's ability. He just was unhappy that Naruto's test today was more of an ordeal than a challenge.

Then Naruto and Uzuth vanished. Neji's gaze snapped to the starstones, and the seconds dragged, as long as they had for him while in _between_, and then the pair reappeared, Uzuth as calm as Byakuth had been. Naruto lurched forward, hunching down over Uzuth's neck, hands spreading against the bronze hide. He straightened up within moments, though, flinging his arms up and whooping as Uzuth returned to the rim.

"Yeeeeaaah!" Naruto shouted across the space between them, "we can go wherever we want now!" Neji smiled back. He could hear the relief in Naruto's excitement.

What he said, was true, though, or very nearly. Once the weyrlingmasters were sure that each weyrling had mastered the visualization for Konoha's stones, they would be able to go anywhere they pleased, and even take visualizations from the watchdragons of holds or other Weyrs to visit them. Normal, daily events for most riders. Shikamaru and Lee were old hands at this now, but it was an entirely new privilege for Neji and Naruto's class.

It hadn't yet really sunk in, and he still felt the surprise whenever he remembered. The whole world was open to him.

And, as happened every now and then, he had a moment of pure bafflement at how far he'd come, and from where. It felt like that life belonged to a different person. He felt his smile at Naruto widen. Naruto crossed his arms across his chest and hugged himself, grinning back.

Reassured, Neji turned to watch Chouji and Akimith rise to take their turn.

* * *

By the end of the afternoon's session of _between_ training, Naruto was worn down from the rush of his combined tension and excitement, his stupid nerves drowned out by the contented elation of yet another step on the way to full riderhood. Everything had gone off without a hitch for all of them, and the evening meal was loud with collective triumph.

"Yeah but _mating flights_," Kiba said with wide eyes and a huge toothy grin, and made a few panting noises for emphasis. He looked up and down the table. "Come on, that's better than _between_."

Naruto laughed with the rest, and entered the ensuing argument with gusto. In the debate whether getting to experience dragonlust and its effects was really better than getting the ability to fly wherever you wanted, Naruto was firmly on the mating flight side. "Sex with some random rider or the ability to find a secluded spot wherever you want?" Ino put in, getting about half-and-half in replies of considering agreement or dismissive noises.

"But the increase in intensity of sex is surely something worth considering!" Lee pointed out, and off everyone went again.

Glancing down over at Neji, Naruto was glad to see him sipping unconcernedly at his drink and following the conversation with amusement and interest. He still had yet to offer opinions of his own in these conversations, and he deflected questions sent his way with noncommittal replies most of the time, but didn't flinch at all anymore when this sort of subject came up.

Naruto felt a happy little flare of lust, watching Neji lick his lips after he lowered his drink, and thought of kissing him again.

_Single-track mind,_ Uzuth teased him gently.

_I love you just as much as ever,_ Naruto replied, and Uzuth laughed, certainly unconcerned about that. _But I do like to concentrate on some things..._

That goldflight and their time together in the baths... the baths had become just what Master Iruka had suspected way back when Neji had just arrived, or, well, almost. He and Neji hadn't repeated that first time, not yet. But even without the influence of a goldflight, Neji would kiss. Oh, would he kiss, and it got better each time.

The limit they kept on themselves was to keep it private, the weyrlingmasters' discouragement of sex still in place, but Naruto made up for that by letting himself touch Neji in plain old regular and (…mostly) non-suggestive ways more often than he had before.

Now, he leaned over Neji to snatch at the water jug, and slung an arm across his shoulders to brace himself.

"Sorry," he said. Neji didn't reply, but leaned into Naruto's arm for a moment. Naruto leaned back and let him go with an alright-maybe-that-wasn't-just-casual caress across the back of his head, dark, smooth hair under his palm for a second, then sat down again, smiling as he refilled his mug.

_So happy,_ Uzuth remarked. His pleasure at his rider's reaction mirrored the spreading contentment inside Naruto.

_Yeah..._ Naruto replied with a long, silent sigh. He shared his smile with Neji before a commotion from the rest of the group's debate drew their attention again.

After supper, and its entertaining discussion, was done, the evening's recreation ended up as a game of football, kicking a ball around between informal teams of weyrlings versus candidates. The game was close the entire time, to the deep and abiding shame of the weyrlings, especially when the candidates had got their final goal past Chouji and between the two piles of shirts and tunics stripped off by most of the players. The game lasted past dark, moving from the grassy lawn around the lake and onto the wide area where two lit paths crossed in the bowl, until the candidates and younger-class weyrlings were forced to retire by the need to bathe the sweat of the game off before their curfew.

It was a great evening, all in all, the running and shouting a good release for any tension left from the stress of the day's training, and even Neji got on the field (shirt securely on, though his old scars were well faded now) to play a little defense. He was lean and fast and very distracting. Naruto had to shoved his thumbs into his waistband to keep his hands to himself when the older-class weyrlings milled around a little while longer after the "littles" had needed to quit.

* * *

They continued booting the ball around for a while, letting the little rush for the bathing rooms die down before making their own way there. Neji still felt somewhat ridiculous for having joined in, but the laughing encouragement from all sides, and Lee's uniquely impassioned exhortations, had finally convinced him, and it had been good exercise.

He thought, as he wrung out his hair after the bath, that playing so late was not a good idea with early 'Fall tomorrow, and the associated firestone sack duty, but he didn't really regret it. He watched Naruto, Lee and Kiba reduce themselves to weyrbrat age with a ridiculous water fight and stepped a little farther back from the edge of the pool, amused by the sight. The splashing died down eventually, the three weyrlings certainly thoroughly rinsed, along with much of the surrounding floor, and then Kiba yawned hugely, and Lee hopped out of the pool.

"Truly, your hair is a trial of maintenance," Lee remarked to Neji, pulling a towel from one of the cubbies and scrubbing it over his own head. His bowl cut stuck out in a variety of directions, totally mussed, but already drier than Neji's, even with that short effort. "Maybe I should try that sometime, it would be a great test of personal grooming."

Neji considered that, trying to imagine Lee with long hair. Not bad, with that lean frame of his. "I'm sure you would wear it very well," Neji replied, and Lee beamed at him.

"I like long hair," Naruto said with a smile, as though the remark was offhand, but he winked obviously at Neji. Kiba made a snorting sound that Neji ignored, but when he turned to drop his wet towel in the hamper, Kiba shot him an encouraging grin that made Neji's face heat a little with self-consciousness. Still he gave a slight nod in return. Kiba opened his mouth in a silent laugh, and started drying his own hair, shaking his head in some kind of amused resignation.

Neji felt like shaking his own head at Kiba's unconcealed investment in Neji and Naruto's relationship. Kiba didn't meddle at all, he just seemed to be cheering them on from the sidelines. He seemed to simply... care about them both. Neji found it annoying sometimes, but he appreciated it even then. Perhaps protective was the best description, Neji thought, watching Akamaru resettle on his human's newly clothed shoulder, and remembering the fire lizard's role in that long-ago brawl. Kiba was wild and loud and intrusive, but he cared.

Kiba departed with a wave, and Lee followed him out with a "sleep well, my friends!"

Neji was still working at untangling his hair. Naruto pulled on his shirt and pants slower than strictly necessary, staying barefoot, then sat on a stool and waited, watching Neji pull his fingers through his hair for a cursory untangling, since his comb was back at his weyr.

Naruto looked... very attractive, his shirt hanging open, bare feet swinging idly under slightly frayed trouser hems. Neji appreciated the view. But Naruto's hands were tighter around the stool's seat than his apparent relaxation warranted, and Naruto's jaw was working unconsciously, worrying at the inside of his cheek.

The effects of _between_ lingered, then. Maybe he could help, a little.

"Done, then?" Naruto grinned and raised his eyebrows. Neji realized he'd stopped moving. He straightened up and swung his hair back over his shoulder—he had been about finished anyway.

"Yes."

Naruto hopped down from his perch and scooped up his boots, dragging the stool the few feet back against the wall while Neji finished putting his shirt on, eyes still on Naruto, on the line of his damp back through the slightly clinging shirt.

Kissing in the baths was something Neji couldn't quite believe he was really used to. He had yet to go much further than that, even after that one very particular encounter, and it frustrated him even while the rest of him eventually—inevitably—turned unwilling whenever Naruto pressed past some ever-shifting line. But Neji was pressing too, against himself, maintaining enjoyment over unease a little longer each time, and he looked forward to each of these encounters.

Naruto always stopped whenever Neji started pushing him off, and that was something Neji was thankful for, and even more for Naruto's endlessly forgiving enthusiasm. He apparently couldn't be bothered with aiming any frustration at Neji, rather, he instead was unhesitatingly vocal about enjoying whatever they did, and was perfectly unashamed to share the fact that Neji had become the focus of his self-pleasuring. "You make me come. Think about _that_," Naruto had said in a low voice, about a week after that goldflight-spurred encounter, and Neji most certainly had, unable _not_ to.

It helped.

Tonight, he caught at Naruto's shoulder and Naruto did his now-familiar eager turn, his hands and then his arms sliding around Neji, boots dangling a moment before thudding to the floor. His grip was tenser than normal and tight, and Neji forestalled the kiss a moment to just pull him close, earning a surprised noise that made Neji realize Naruto was oblivious to the fact his nerves were showing.

Neji loosened his hold, and Naruto did likewise, hands sliding under Neji's shirt to rest on his bare skin, warm and still a bit damp. The kiss was slow, and Neji smiled against Naruto's mouth, elated as he was each time now at how comfortable this was, no more shock or reticence for this much, at least, and Neji closed his eyes to let it carry him as far as it could.

Naruto released his mouth to kiss down his neck, shivers of heat starting at each contact. His hands roved over Neji's chest, sliding down his stomach to rest on his waist, and Neji leaned against him, the gathering heat spurring him to more contact.

He felt Naruto's erection against his thigh, as Naruto must have felt his. The thrill that sent through him was matched and then, maddeningly, dominated by that frustrating reticence that always intruded. He resisted a few seconds, then buckled to the clammy coolness of the discomfort with a silent curse. He put a hand on Naruto's chest, flat and firm, and Naruto backed off with a long sigh and a shrug.

"Bedtime," Naruto said, and Neji nodded, his annoyance with himself strong as ever. Naruto squeezed his shoulder and winked. "Promise me you'll jerk off later," he said, voice rough, "hey?"

Neji met Naruto's half-lidded gaze with a nod that was much more matter of fact than that particular request ever made him feel, the unsteady lust inside him always flaring with those words, and Naruto grinned.

* * *

Naruto dismounted from Uzuth with a contented sigh, his erection only slightly abated from the ride. As he headed into his weyr, he felt a pang of resigned, but amused, frustration. By the First Egg, maybe if they could stop doing that in the baths all the time, he might get Neji to try sleeping here once in a while. He wouldn't dare risk that when he was this riled up... he palmed himself and groaned happily. Too many good choices. He wasn't gonna give up kissing Neji for anything, but it would be so nice to share a bed again…

Well, now he could jerk off, and fall asleep, nice and easy—"fuck." Naruto came to an abrupt halt when he shoved past his door curtain and saw the riding straps piled on the table in the main room. He had to repair that mess, and he had to do it _today_, which meant _right now_. With 'Fall tomorrow morning there would be no time before chores... and both sets needed to be ready by midday gear inspection. So, he had a serious tear to patch on the secondary chest strap and an entire buckle anchor to replace. His arousal stripped away with a dragging thud of tired frustration.

Naruto scrubbed his hands over his face and stomped over to the table, planting his hands on it and staring down at the lengths of harness leather. Maybe he could just... but no. He was tired. If he finished jerking off, he'd probably fall asleep on the table.

Uzuth offered sleepy sympathy that Naruto accepted with a groan, and went to get his repair kit. So much for bedtime.

It was well past midnight when he stood up from his work, the patch firmly stitched, his repair job a good one, despite the hour—because shirking attention on strap repair could kill a rider—and Uzuth was fast asleep. Naruto stood, his back and shoulders aching from the hunch he'd been in, and staggered off to change.

He covered the glowbasket, fell into bed and sprawled out, expecting to fall asleep within moments.

But he didn't. The silence of the weyr became suddenly deafening. He opened his eyes and frowned, and the dark... He was bothered by the dark. Closing his eyes didn't help, and he kept opening them despite himself, staring upward at his shadow-shrouded ceiling.

He bore it awhile, annoyed at himself and refusing to move because he was better than this now, stronger than this, but he was unable to ignore the ever more oppressive feeling. The freezing memory of _between_ from the day's training seeped in next, and he sat up with a curse at himself. He got up again and half-uncovered the glowbasket. The light helped, which made shame heat his face, and he muttered a few more curses while he worked to shove down his leftover unease so he didn't disturb Uzuth.

Lying back again, he closed his eyes with his face towards the glowbasket, and wrapped himself around Uzuth's steady, sleeping presence in his mind until he finally, mercifully, dropped off.

* * *

Neji woke up to a nagging feeling of worry, sitting up before he fully roused.

He blinked, confused. It was dark, no light of morning brightening his room, and Byakuth answered his wordless questioning with a mess of agitated concern and angry unease that felt like Uzuth and Naruto both, then uncertainty that was Byakuth's own.

_What..?_

_Uzuth's rider... slept with dreams of_ between, _and woke, and now he's not happy._ Byakuth paused, listening. _Uzuth says he has not asked for you, but..._

_I'm coming down there._ He frowned, angry with himself. He should have done… something… before. They'd fallen into eager routine, and Neji would not have been very comfortable following him up to his weyr in the state they'd been in at the end, but he should have anyway, or should have forestalled any kissing at all instead of failing at succesful comfort, or… something! Something.

Moreover, he was unhappy that Naruto's first instinct was still to keep it to himself. He understood it—Naruto's eternal craving for attention did not include exposing his own weaknesses. He had no instinct to ask for help, as much as he had always been glad for support when it appeared.

That being the case, Neji had no hesitation about reminding him he was cared for. He'd do it as many times as it took.

Neji put his feet on the floor, the coolness of the stone jolting a little more awareness into him and hurried out to the ledge, where Byakuth already stood. The blue was right at the edge, peering downward towards Uzuth's ledge.

Neji mounted up, and the ride was a quick glide through chilly night air. Uzuth was up from his couch, standing on his ledge and the tense set of his wings relaxed as Byakuth landed. Byakuth went to him once Neji dismounted, leaning against his bigger friend.

_He says he suggested calling us,_ Byakuth told him, _his rider said there was no need, but... didn't say not to._ That was a loophole that many dragons would use if they felt the need to go against expressed wishes to help their riders.

Neji walked slowly into the weyr. The glowbasket in the bedroom was open, casting soft light into the main room, and he went on, stopping only when he reached the threshold of the doorway.

Naruto was on his back, arms wrapped around himself, glaring upwards. "Naruto," Neji said softly, and Naruto startled, shoving himself up on his elbows and staring.

"Whoa." He flushed, shame creeping over his face, then it was suppressed, though the reddening stayed. "I didn't even hear you." He sat up, crossing his legs, and grinned, and it was a fine attempt, but Neji could see the strain. "Come to visit, eh?"

"I would have liked an invitation," Neji answered pointedly. Naruto's grin faded and he shrugged.

"I didn't want to bother you. It's no big deal, alright?"

"No." Neji would remind Naruto as many times as was required. "I want you to bother me." Naruto hunched his shoulders and looked away from Neji to fix the wall with a belligerent stare. Neji regarded him for long moments. "Do you want me to leave?" he asked quietly. Naruto always stopped when Neji asked. It would be hypocritical and cruel for Neji to do otherwise. But he knew Naruto, and he suspected he knew the answer to that question.

Naruto's hands tightened into fists. "No."

Neji came a little closer, pausing by the side of the bed. Naruto moved over, then drew his knees up and dropped his forehead on them. Once, twice, again, hitting his forehead against his kneecaps. "Why does this still happen," Naruto muttered, frustration thickening his voice. "I'm trying to be better than this."

Naruto's mattress felt warm as Neji sat down, the heat of Naruto's body lingering. He drew his legs up and crossed them in front of him. "I… don't know," Neji replied, eyes on his hands where they lay in his lap. "Even when you've beaten the worst, and you feel you've escaped it all... things linger." Revelations were all well and good. Perspective and insight into one's own mind were invaluable. But most things didn't change in an instant, no matter how much you wanted them to.

"Oh," Naruto said quietly, and Neji looked over to meet tired, serious eyes. Naruto studied him, and Neji just sat and watched him back. "Guess so, huh." Frustration was ebbing visibly from him with that understanding. Neji hoped that this meant Naruto would also think to call him, next time. And if not, well, he might at least remember that he wasn't failing himself for not being perfect.

"It helps to have... help," Neji told him with a slight shrug, and he reached out to slide his hand over the back of Naruto's neck. "I have been lucky." He gave him a light tug of invitation.

"Not just you," Naruto said, and he leaned forward, pulled by Neji's grip, pressing his forehead into Neji's neck. Neji turned his face, rubbing through Naruto's hair, and relaxed, letting Naruto's weight push him onto his back. It felt easy to do that right now, and Neji hoped that feeling would stay.

Naruto pulled back with raised eyebrows, shifting to sit so his thigh pressed against Neji's side. He propped his arm on the other side of him to lean down. Neji met his surprised expression with raised eyebrows of his own, daring the invitation, his fingers still sliding through the hair over the back of Naruto's neck. The intimacy of the moment was warming up with fond arousal that gained momentum and heat with every passing second.

It occurred to him, lying there, that the baths were not the best place to be pushing his limits. He had no need for the excuse of a public space to curb any pressure from Naruto, but after the first time there, it had become habit. Here, in private, was even less worry—no risk of anyone interrupting, no one with them but their dragons.

Byakuth was silent just now, radiating encouragment and contented excitement. Neji didn't think it was possible to feel safer than this, or freer to do what he wanted.

He firmed his grip and tugged. Naruto leaned down, kissing Neji on the corner of his mouth before moving onward.

Neji slid his other arm around Naruto's body and up, following the line of his back, the strength of a dragonrider's training under his palm, the strong, solid build easy to feel under the soft cloth of his nightshirt

Naruto's lips moved on his neck, and Neji closed his eyes, the tingling warmth that Naruto's mouth caused under his skin spreading out to heat the rest of him, and though he'd gladly followed through on his earlier promise to Naruto and brought himself to completion before falling asleep…. he was entirely ready to enjoy that again.

His hand had stilled on Naruto's back, his fingers spread wide apart below Naruto's shoulder blade. He slid it down again, finding the hem of Naruto's shirt and then a few inches of warm, bare skin before he fetched up against the waist of Naruto's sleeping pants. He settled his hand there, thumb rubbing over the naked skin above the edge of the cloth. Naruto shifted, resettled, and Neji felt a shiver of anticipation at the antsy movement, certain that if he pulled his hand in a little bit, around Naruto's hip and past his thigh, he'd feel the tightened cloth and then the hot, thick erection he remembered very well. The image of Naruto's hand, touching himself, had hardly faded from Neji's mind, even weeks later.

Naruto's hand was sliding over his chest, fingertips tracing over his collarbone, when Neji took a breath and drew his hand around.

Not all the way, not at once, but enough for his palm to find tented cloth, enough for Naruto to notice, and startle. He pulled up, leaving Neji's neck suddenly cool. Neji opened his eyes and met wide-open blue ones full of arousal and eagerness and a very visible effort of restraint.

"So then," Naruto said, and he reached down, palm warm as it dragged over Neji's nightshirt, stopping short at his waist. "Can I..?" His fingers settled to fidget against Neji's stomach, despite what Neji was sure was Naruto's best efforts to keep still.

It would have taken life-threatening circumstances for Neji to reply to that question aloud, even if his mouth hadn't suddenly dried from the enormity—it still felt so incredibly momentous—of what Naruto wanted to do, what they both wanted to do. But speaking wasn't a requirement. He pulled Naruto back down, and Naruto came willingly to kiss him, the hungry edge stronger than Neji had felt until now. It caused a rushing thrill that ran deeply through him, and this time it bolstered his momentum, uncaged by hesitation. And just in case Naruto hadn't caught on, which was know to happen from time to time, Neji dropped his arm from Naruto's neck to find his hand and push at it, nudging it lower.

Naruto made a noise in the back of his throat, taking the hint, the permission, with audible pleasure, and Neji tightened his fist around the hem of his own shirt as the weight of Naruto's hand pressed slowly over his erection, a smooth stroke down and then up, through his pants.

Didn't make sense, he didn't know how it could be, that this felt so different from his own hand. But it did, setting off desire and rawer lust, all from Naruto being the one touching him, and he shifted under his hand moving just slightly into the pressure.

"Hey, hey," Naruto broke the kiss to laugh softly against the angle of his jaw. "Seems alright? That's good. Yeah... yeah, good," his elation was audible in his roughened voice, and encouragement enough that Neji moved his hand the rest of the way, hardly any distance at all, as much as it felt like a great leap, and felt the side of his thumb meet Naruto's erection. Naruto made another inarticulate sound of eagerness, teeth grazing against Neji's skin for a moment, and Neji swallowed at the sensation while he explored a little more.

Strangely unfamiliar, the feel of it. Different from his own, some detached part of his mind noted, as he slid his palm across the warm, hard length, pushing against it. Naruto's legs shifted, the one not pressed warmly against Neji's side bending up and angling out, offering more for him to touch.

Neji opened his hand, then dared to curl his fingers a little, grasping through cloth, and then he was the one to startle at Naruto's fingertips on his lower belly, pressing against but not quite going under the waist of his pants. Right where the laces where tied. Naruto stilled over him, or nearly did, his heavy breathing making his body maintain part of the rhythm they'd already started.

"Stop?" Naruto asked, voice low against his neck.

Neji swallowed. No. No. He shook his head, mouth opening and closing again in favour of the silent signal, and he ignored his frustration with his temporary muteness. There was too much good here to bother with that.

He closed his eyes again, shutting out distractions, the warm dark reducing his field of awareness to Naruto's bed under his back, Naruto's fingers at his waist, hot erection in his hand, panting breaths against his neck. Neji squeezed at the straining heat under his palm.

Then he crept his fingers up, under the drape of Naruto's shirt, finding firm, sweaty belly above the untidy knot that held Naruto's pants up. He wound his fingers through one of the ends and tugged.

Naruto huffed a laugh. He found Neji's mouth again, a gentle kiss, slow and half-distracted, as they both worked one-handed at each others' pants.

Cool air surrounded Neji's erection before he'd completely pulled the knot apart at Naruto's waist. He had to stop trying, completely distracted as fingertips trailed down his length, then slid around him, palm callused from training, but not rough, instead smooth from all the hide oil they used on their dragons.

Neji thrust up into the warm grip without thought, and then he had to open his eyes and grab at Naruto's wrist. Naruto went tense all over, leaning up and away, but Neji stiffened his arm to stop him from letting go, and just waited for the tide to ebb away a little. "Oh," he heard, the realization. "Hah!" Naruto's voice was elated.

There. That was better. He let go of Naruto's wrist and reached for the back of his head instead, and Naruto shifted his hand, stroking up with a loose and gentle grip, and down again. He let Neji pull him back again into that still-distracted kiss, both their concentration directed somewhat lower. The kiss turned sloppy, and they separated, and Neji didn't care, caught up in the warm hand around him. He'd bent his knees at some point, heels dug into folds of Naruto's blanket, so he could move too, up through the grip around him.

Naruto changed his position on the bed, but Neji only peripherally noticed the redistribution of weight, more intent on the slide of Naruto's palm up his length and down. Firm pressure settled over the head of his erection, a cupped hand, and Neji shifted on the mattress, unthinking except to push back, because that was _just right_, Naruto knew how he wanted to be touched and was doing it for him.

The hand around his length lifted away for a moment and came back, slippery and wet, and Neji threw an arm up over his eyes, fist tightening. Naruto's hands worked faster, answering the quickening demand of Neji's movements.

"Yeah?" Naruto's voice came through the enveloping heat, and his hands tightened just a bit more, the next strokes rougher. It was perfect, then it was overwhelming, and Neji thrust up into that grip, pushed his head back into the pillow, and came.

Naruto's easing grip held him through it, wet warmth dripping from Naruto's cupped hand when he pulled it away. Neji's body relaxed and he settled back onto the mattress, feeling boneless and surprised and shakily happy.

He pulled his arm down and opened his eyes. Naruto was wiping his hands on his shirt, lust still plain on his face as his eyes met Neji's, and Neji realized just how far to distraction he'd been taken, to have completely ignored him in favour of his own desire.

Reaching out, he found Naruto's hip, and Naruto turned into his touch, legs moving easily apart. Neji slid his palm again over the ridge of his erection, still trapped behind the cloth of his pants, and moved up, meaning to finish undoing the laces that had confounded him before.

But Naruto twitched under his palm, hips shoving to increase the pressure. He planted both hands, one on the mattress, one gripping at Neji's thigh, then bowed his head and gasped, and under Neji's fingers spread warmth, rapidly dampening the cloth and Neji blinked slowly, his fingers shifting uncertainly.

Naruto raised his head, blushing bright and eyes wide in surprise and embarrassment and not a little amusement.

"Not," he breathed, "_not_ impressive."

Neji stayed still, too surprised to move. Naruto looked down, reached for Neji's wrist and lifted his hand away, still red-faced, but laughing already. He met Neji's eyes again with the blush still all over his cheeks, but his eyes were bright with humour.

"I beg to differ," Neji managed, still shocked Naruto had really just… well, come in his pants under Neji's hand. He felt a smile at the corners of his mouth. "If anything, that was... flattering."

Naruto's face lit up properly at that, even though the hints of embarrassment lingered, then he sat back with a mostly-contented sigh, pulling his shirt off. He gave Neji a quick, gentle swipe on his lower belly before the shirt was balled up and launched into the wicker basket in the corner.. He rose from the bed to slide out of his pants, and threw them after the shirt, and Neji lay and watched him move around, while he slowly rearranged himself and retied the laced of his pants.

_That was fun_ Byakuth told Neji, now that the blue was assured his rider was done with the business of orgasms. _I liked that. It's good when you do it by yourself, but this was especially nice. Uzuth's rider is good for you!_ Byakuth was very pleased. _And,_ he added, _You are good for him. Uzuth says you helped him._.

_I'm glad,_ Neji replied, and he was reassured by the insight. Naruto certainly looked contented, his earlier unhappiness nowhere to be seen; none of the day's tension lingered on him now.

For his part, Neji thought he should feel more amazed or stunned or some such reaction, perhaps tomorrow morning it would sink in. Now he was sleepy from the hour and the orgasm, and very comfortable. He closed his eyes.

"So... uh... wanna sleep over at my place tonight?" He heard Naruto ask, and he blinked his eyes open slowly to see a sheepish but hopeful smile.

"I would," Neji murmured, now satisfied in more ways than one.


End file.
